


It All Started With An Envelope

by jadegreendragon



Series: Malec A to Z [6]
Category: The Shadowhunter Chronicles - All Media Types
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alec Lightwood Deserves Nice Things, Alec Lightwood has a good heart, Alternate Universe, Angst, Attempt at Humor, Crime Scenes, Detective Alec Lightwood, Detective Magnus Bane, Eventual Romance, Eventual Smut, F/M, Flirting, Fluff, Gen, Graphic Description of Corpses, Hate Crimes, Homophobic Language, Hurt/Comfort, Love Letters, M/M, Magnus Bane Is Nice Things, Murder, Mutilation, Other Additional Tags to Be Added, Police Procedural, Secret Admirer, Serial Killers, Strangers to Lovers
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2020-09-27
Updated: 2021-03-01
Packaged: 2021-03-08 00:00:20
Rating: Explicit
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 5
Words: 44,808
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/26676316
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jadegreendragon/pseuds/jadegreendragon
Summary: In the midst of one of the worst cases of his life, Alec finds an envelope on his keyboard with a simple note inside. Over the course of the next week, he receives a note every day. Detective Lightwood has a secret admirer.
Relationships: Clary Fray/Jace Wayland, Luke Garroway/Maryse Lightwood, Lydia Branwell/John Monteverde, Magnus Bane/Alec Lightwood, Simon Lewis/Isabelle Lightwood/Raphael Santiago
Series: Malec A to Z [6]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/1159823
Comments: 136
Kudos: 169





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Hi All,
> 
> Here is the next fic in my Malec A to Z Series, E is for Envelope.
> 
> This fic has gone through multiple transformations since i first came up with the idea. Initially this fic was going to be fun and fluff with Magnus and Alec working together at the same Advertising firm but I've decided to do something completely different. Ever since writing a cute meet with Magnus as a cop, I've been itching to write another cop fic, with both Alec and Magnus as Detectives.
> 
> I am pulling together a few of my favourite tropes in this fic, secret admirers, love letters and serial killers. 
> 
> I grew up in the '80s and I loved a movie back then called Secret Admirer. The movie doesn't really stand the test of time like some of the other great teen movies from the '80s but I've always loved the plotline. Another movie that I adore to this day is "Little shop around the corner" starring Jimmy Stewart from 1940. Most of you may have never seen it but it was remade in 1998 and modernised into "You've Got Mail" starring Meg Ryan and Tom Hanks. I'm loosely basing my underlying plot on the premise of these movies. 
> 
> I'm throwing a serial killer into the mix because well I can and I'm a huge fan of true crime. As you know I hate writing relationship angst, so instead, I'm adding a crazed killer to the story. There is nothing like chasing a serial killer to bring two people together! 🤣 🤪
> 
> You will notice that this fic has quite a few tags, and there will be more as we go. There will be depictions of violence, crime scenes and dead bodies in this fic, I have tried to not to be too graphic but I want to give everyone fair warning and please if this is a trigger for you, don't read or skip parts as you need too.
> 
> I've been doing a crazy amount of research for this fic, and I've been reading up on police procedure quite a lot. The fic is based in the USA but I am not, I'm in Australia so sometimes things might not be 100% correct but this is fiction so go with it.
> 
> Also, I have no idea when it comes to Latin, so I've had to rely on google and online translators for this fic. If you know Latin and see anything glaringly wrong, please let me know.
> 
> I don't have a posting schedule for this fic, I will try to post as quickly as I can but I suggest subscribing so you won't miss an update. Those of you who've read my previous works know I'd never abandon a work!
> 
> Well, that's enough from me for now. I hope you are all safe and well, and I hope you enjoy this new adventure. 
> 
> Hugs to you All! 🤗🤗🤗

**It all started with an Envelope. . .**

Alec was sitting on the couch, sandwiched between his two sons. They were having a lazy Sunday afternoon, waiting for Magnus to come home after being called into work.

They scrolled through TV show after TV show trying to find something to watch. The boys loved watching retro shows as they called it.

“How did you meet papa?” Max asked.

“At work silly,” Rafael scoffed. “What we want to know is how you started dating.”

Alec smiled at his sons. “That’s a long story,” Alec chuckled.

“I think we have time,” Rafael said, amused.

“It all started with an Envelope. . .” Alec began.

6 years earlier . . . .

Alec groaned, he hated paperwork. It was the worst part of his job, well not entirely, but it was damn close.

It was Monday morning, almost 11 am, Alec had been sitting at his desk since 8, and so far it didn’t look like he’d even made a dent in the pile on his desk. He needed coffee, lots of it if he was going to make it through the day. Making his way into the breakroom, he cursed under his breath when he noticed the empty coffee pot.

“Fuck it,” he said to himself, as he strode out of the room and towards the lift. Moments later, he was walking out the front doors of the precinct.

Alec made his way to the coffee shop on the corner and waited patiently in line for his turn. Whoever had decided to open up a coffee shop so close to the police precinct was a genius, no matter the time of day the place was always packed and bursting at the seams with customers.

Alec ordered his usual and decided to pick up a blueberry muffin as well. Not entirely a nutritious lunch, but he honestly was beyond caring today.

By the time Alec was making his way back to his desk, he was in a much happier mood. He took another sip of his coffee before looking down at his keyboard. There, propped up between the keys, was a purple envelope.

Picking it up, Alec looked at the front and then the back, both were blank. At first glance, there didn’t seem to be anything inside the envelope, but then Alec noticed there was a small slip of paper inside, the same shade of purple as the envelope. Printed on the slip, in neat cursive handwriting was just one sentence.

_‘You have a good heart.’_

Alec looked around him, expecting one of his colleagues to be standing there laughing, but no one was paying him any attention. It had to be some sort of joke Alec thought, tossing the envelope into the trashcan.

Alec unlocked his computer and tried to give his full attention to answering his emails. His thoughts kept drifting back to the note, and before he knew it, he found himself fishing it out of the trash and tossing it into his desk drawer. Maybe it had been left on his desk by mistake, and the writer might return for it once they realised he convinced himself.

Alec spent the rest of the day wading through the sea of paper on his desk, the note forgotten. 

Magnus was sitting at his desk, staring out the window. He didn’t have much of a view, but at least he had one. Magnus had been at work since 5 am. He’d come in early to make use of the precinct gym and also to try to catch up on his paperwork. It was now almost 7.30.

Magnus had joined the 99th precinct, Brooklyn, 3 months earlier. He ran the newly formed Special Investigations Division. They investigated everything from Cybercrimes to Zombie sightings. Everything weird and unusual that didn’t fit into the usual departments.

Magnus had been hesitant to take on such a role. It was the first division of its kind in the NYPD, and he wasn’t sure he wanted the responsibility of ensuring its success. The clincher for Magnus had been when Captain Garroway had given him free rein to choose his team.

Magnus had brought Detective Raphael Santiago with him from his old precinct, and he had taken Police Officer Simon Lewis and Police Officer Isabelle Lightwood into the fold. Simon had an extensive IT background and Isabelle crime scene and forensics training.

Across the street, Magnus spied Alec Lightwood, Detective 1st class, Alec Lightwood, he corrected in his head. Detective Lightwood had been one of the youngest detectives in the NYPD, and he had climbed from 3rd to 1st class faster than most. Many in the NYPD put it down to the fact that his mother was the police commissioner, but Magnus knew better. He had earned each and every one of his promotions on his own merit. He was one of the hardest working detectives in the NYPD.

Magnus had wanted him for his team, but Captain Garroway had explained that he couldn’t have his head detective. Magnus had been surprised that Detective Lightwood hadn’t been asked to take over Special Investigations, but soon found out that he had turned down the role, suggesting they needed someone with more experience.

It was probably for the best, Magnus thought to himself, sighing as his eyes followed Alec. The man was just too beautiful, Magnus would never get any work done around him day in and day out.

Alec was carrying 3 coffees and a brown paper bag. Magnus recognised the logo, it was from the coffee shop on the corner. He loved their coffee and pastries.

Magnus watched Alec duck into an alleyway, and his curiosity spiked. What he would be doing there? A few minutes later, Alec strode out, only one coffee in hand, and the bag was gone.

Magnus shifted in his seat and tried to see down the alleyway, but the angle from his office window wouldn’t allow it. Deciding he could use a coffee himself and some fresh air, he decided to go check it out for himself.

He exited the office, taking the stairs, as to not bump into anyone on his way out. Magnus made his way across the street and towards the alleyway. Magnus looked around confused. There are a couple of doors in the alleyway that led to the surrounding businesses, but they all looked to be securely locked.

The only other things in the alleyway were a couple of large dumpsters. H was about to leave when he heard something and walked further into the alleyway, noticing for the first time a couple of large cardboard boxes. They weren’t visible from the entrance to the alleyway, shielded by the dumpsters. Someone was living and sleeping in the alleyway.

“What do you want?” A voice said, and Magnus turned to see an elderly woman crawling out of the box behind him, staring him down.

“I’m sorry to disturb you,” Magnus said.

“No one usually comes down here,” She said. Magnus noticed that there was someone else hidden away.

“Actually,” Magnus said. “I just noticed a friend of mine, Alec, come down here this morning and I was curious.” He admitted.

“Alec is an angel,” Another voice said, and an elderly man made his way out of his makeshift home. He was holding a coffee.

“He brings you coffee?” Magnus asked

“Yes, and breakfast,” The woman added.

“He’s always bringing blankets and necessities,” The man explained.

Magnus smiled. “Alec is a good man.”

“He has a big heart, a good heart,” the woman added.

“I don’t have any food,” Magnus said, pulling out his wallet, “But here, for supplies.” He said, passing them the contents of his wallet, a fist full of 20 dollar bills.

“Bless you, young man,” The man said.

“Magnus,” he said, smiling.

“The pretty new detective?” the man asked, and the woman scolded him.

Magnus laughed, “I’ve been called worse.”

“I’m Sue, and this is Derek,” The woman said amused.

Magnus made his way back to his office, all thoughts of coffee were forgotten. Taking a seat, he picked up his desk phone and dialled a number he knew by heart.

“Hi Cat,” Magnus says as his friend answers, “I’ve got a question for you.”

Magnus proceeded to ask Cat about the elderly couple sleeping rough in the alleyway. Cat was a nurse and volunteered at homeless and veterans shelters all around Brooklyn and surrounds. Cat knew about the couple, Magnus had met. They had tried to get the couple into a shelter multiple times, but they hated being separated, so they always left.

After his morning briefing with his staff, Magnus found himself sitting at his desk, lost in thought. Alec Lightwood on his mind. The one thing that his mind kept circling back to was that Alec had talked to the couple about him, and he thought he was pretty.

Opening up his desk drawer, Magnus pulled out his personal stationery and started to write as an idea formed in his head.

Tuesday morning, Alec sighed with relief when he saw his partner Detective Lydia Branwell sitting at her desk.

“Thank god you’re back,” he said, tossing himself into his chair, which protested under his weight.

“I only took 2 days off,” She laughed.

“Two days that I had to spend at my desk doing paperwork.”

“You could have partnered with Raj or Meliorn,” She said smirking.

Alec rolled his eyes at her everyone hated Police Office Raj Bharti, he was an arrogant ass, and Police Office Meliorn Dubois was nice enough but a little too friendly and relaxed for Alec. He would have happily partnered with Police Officer Andrew Underhill or Police Officer Maia Roberts, but they worked too well together to split up.

“I’d rather the paperwork,” He said, and Lydia laughed loudly.

At 9, they were called into the conference room by their Lieutenant for a quick briefing and afterwards Lydia made her way to the breakroom to grab them coffee’s while Alec returned to his desk.

Perched between the keys of Alec’s keyboard was another purple envelope.

Alec looked around the office, but no one was around, He took his seat and slowly opened the envelope.

_‘Your smile never fails to brighten my day.’_

Alec turned the envelope over, again, nothing was printed on the outside. He heard voices and laughter and shoved the note and envelope into his desk drawer as Lydia took her seat.

Lydia was about to say something, as she handed over Alec’s coffee when the phone on his desk started ringing.

“Detective Lightwood,” Alec said all business.

Alec listened for a moment, his face turning grim. “We’re on our way.”

As they pulled up in front of the house they’d been given the address to Alec was surprised to see their Lieutenant Hodge Starkweather and their Sergeant Victor Aldertree both standing out front looking grim and pale.

Lydia parked along the curb, and Alec jumped out, grabbing their kit from the boot. Alec and Lydia had been working together for almost 3 years now, and they both took their jobs very seriously, which was why they made such a great team.

As they walked towards their superiors, Alec noticed PO Meliorn sitting on the ground, he was ghostly pale. His partner PO Raj was throwing up into a sick bag.

Alec looked at Hodge, his gaze questioning.

“It isn’t pretty,” Hodge said. “I’ve never seen anything like it.”

Aldertree just shook his head.

Both men had over 20 years on the force, Alec seriously doubted that there was anything they hadn’t see, so whatever was waiting for them in that house had to be bad.

“What do we have?” Lydia asked.

“Dubois and Bharti were responding to a domestic disturbance call, they found the front door open, they didn’t get past the hallway before calling it in. A quick sweep was done of the house, but we didn’t want to disturb the scene. I can tell you there are multiple victims,” Hodge explained.

Lydia and Alec nodded and moved towards the house. PO Underhill and PO Roberts were standing guard over the entrance to the house clipboard in hand.

“Detective Branwell,” Lydia said, holding up her ID and Badge. “5642.”

“Detective A. Lightwood,” Alec said, holding up his ID and Badge. “1970.” Alec always used his first initial, there was more than one Lightwood on the force, and he’d taken over this mothers badge number. It had been his grandfathers before her, it had been passed down from family member to family member for 3 generations.

Alec noticed the small plaque ‘Sanctuary’ beside the intercom. He knew that name, he suddenly realised where they were. Sanctuary was a shelter for homeless members of the LGBTIQA+ community. It was a cause he and his siblings had supported for a few years now.

Alec dropped the kit by the door opening it. He pulled out two sets of protective gear, handing one to Lydia wordlessly.

They both slipped the booties over their shoes, pulling on gloves. Lydia reached into the kit and pulled out a little pot. She opened it, dipping her finger inside before handing it to Alec. Lydia wiped the cream under her nose, Alec did the same.

Alec grabbed a new notebook, and evidence bags from the kit, and Lydia grabbed her camera, checking the battery.

“Ready?” Alec asked, and Lydia nodded as Alec opened the front door.

Even with the balm under his nose, Alec was hit with the sickly sweet smell of blood and death. It made his stomach turn.

Just inside the entryway was the body of a man. Alec estimated he was in his mid-20’s. He was laying on his back, his throat was cut from ear to ear, and his shirt was ripped open. He had multiple stab wounds to his upper chest, heart area and what looked like strange symbols carved into his skin.

“Where’s all the blood?” Lydia asked from somewhere behind Alec. Alec shook his head. There should have been a massive puddle under the victim, and from the way, the throat was cut there should have been arterial spray, but there was nothing.

“He wasn’t killed here,” Alec said. “He’s been put on display.” It was the only explanation.

As Lydia took photos, Alec moved to the room on the left. It was a lounge area. There was a large flat-screen TV on the wall. It was turned off, and Alec noticed it was smeared with something, it looked liked writing, but it was hard to make out with the screen black as it was.

There were 3 large couches in the room, laid out on the first couch was a woman, late teens, early 20’s at the most, Alec thought. She was naked, laying on her side, facing the TV. Her throat was cut, she had stab wounds to her chest, and similar symbols to the first victim carved all over her body.

The couch to the right had a young male on it, he looked to be in his teens, 16 at most. He was shirtless, wearing black boxer briefs. He was on his back, and like the others, his throat was cut, he had stab wounds to the chest and was covered in symbols. He even had symbols carved into the soles of his feet.

The last couch had another woman on it, mid 20’s if Alec had to hazard a guess. She was in a sitting position naked, her head slumped forward, and her long blond hair was matted with blood. She had the same injuries as the others.

“Christ,” Lydia said as she started photographing the scene.

“Have you ever seen anything like these symbols before?” Alec asked her as he added to his notes.

“No,” Lydia said honestly. “It’s not any language I recognised, not a modern one anyway.”

“Can you see the TV remote anywhere?” He asked.

Lydia turned and noticed it laying on a small side table near the sitting victim. She spun the remote around, so that it pointed at the TV, and carefully pressed the power button. A moment later the TV came to life.

There was writing on the TV, and it looked to be written in the victim’s blood.

“Angelus adducet vobis salutem.”

“Latin,” Alec clarified, “Something about Angels and salvation.”

“You know Latin?” Lydia asked.

“Benefits of a private education,” Alec smirked. Lydia always liked to tease him about the fancy schools his parents had sent him too.

Alec left Lydia to finish photographing the lounge and walked further into the house. There was a small study which was thankfully empty on the right and a guest bathroom that looked spotless. The last room on the right was a bedroom. The bedcover was laying on the floor at the foot of the bed, and the sheets were soaked in blood. There was blood on the bedhead, wall and ceiling. This was obviously the scene of one of the murders. There was a small door to the left, and it led to a small ensuite that seemed to be untouched.

Alec carefully stepped out of the room and turned to the left where he found himself in a large spacious kitchen. There was another body, sitting at the table, head down. Alec couldn’t tell if they were male or female. This body was fully clothed, but by the red marks soaked through the clothing, Alec knew they’d been carved up too.

Just off the kitchen was a small laundry and a set of stairs. Alec made his way upstairs, going from bedroom to bedroom. The beds in each room were soaked in blood. There was spray on the walls, ceiling and floor. Alec didn’t step into any of the rooms, wanting to preserve the scene for the Crime Scene Unit (CSU). Only 3 of the 8 bedrooms upstairs were free of blood.

It was clear that the victims were all killed in their sleep, in their beds and then moved and put on display.

There was a large communal bathroom at the end of the hall. The tub was full of blood-soaked towels, and the shower stall was still wet, as was a towel hanging on the towel rack. The killer must have cleaned up, showered here.

Alec glanced out of the small window that looked out over the backyard. On the small patch of lawn, he spotted another victim.

“Fuck,” he said as he turned to find Lydia standing behind him.

“There’s another one, out on the lawn,” he said. “We need Bane.”

Lydia pulled out her phone and made the call.

Alec made his way downstairs and out to the small yard. Alec felt his stomach lurch. This victim was by far the worst. The victim was male, mid 30’s. He was naked, spread out on the lawn. His hands and feet looked to be staked to the ground, his pose similar to crucifixion. His throat was slashed so deep that he was almost decapitated. He had stab wounds to his chest, and he was covered in symbols.

The killer would have had to have spent hours in the house, mutilating and displaying his victims.

Magnus was twirling around in his chair lost in thought when the call came in.

“Bane,” he said, snatching up his phone.

Magnus listened as Lieutenant Starkweather explained the situation. His mind couldn’t get past the fact that they had 6 victims.

“Raph,” Magnus said, shrugging into his coat. “Let’s go.”

Raphael grabbed his own coat and rushed out after Magnus.

“What have we got?” Raphael asked.

“Multiple victims, possible ritualistic aspects to the murders,” Magnus explained grimly.

Magnus and Raphael suited up after getting out of the car. Magnus had learnt long ago that crime scenes were not kind to his wardrobe, so he’d started wearing full protective gear ever since.

Magnus noticed Lydia and Hodge standing outside the house, but Alec was nowhere to be seen.

“Thanks for coming down,” Lydia said. “Alec’s still inside.”

“How bad is it?” Raphael asked.

“Bad,” Lydia said, “Really bad.”

Magnus and Raphael turned and made their way towards Underhill and Roberts.

“Detective Bane, 4330,” Magnus said.

“Detective Santiago, 6459,” Raphael said.

“Thank you, Detectives,” Underhill said.

“Detective Lightwood is the only one inside,” Maia added.

Both men nodded and made their way into the house.

Even though they knew that Lydia would have photographed the scene and CSU would as well, Raphael still preferred to take photos of their own. Every photographer had a different perspective, and it was useful having as much documentation of the scene as possible.

Magnus tapped his earbud and turned on his dictation app. Most officers liked to take down written notes, but Magnus preferred making voice memos, which uploaded to his cloud account as he recorded.

Alec was drawing some of the symbols as best he could into his notebook when he heard voices. Turning, he noticed Magnus and Raphael step out into the small yard. Alec hadn’t had a chance to work with either man yet, but so far they’d been doing good things, and Alec knew that Captain Garroway was happy with his decision to start the new division. Both Detectives have impressive careers before moving to the 99, and Alec was pleased to have them on their team.

Alec nodded silently at the men, as they moved toward the victim, staked out on the lawn.

“Backyard, male victim, approximately mid 30’s,” Magnus said, stepping closer to the body. “Victim is nude,” he said, crouching down to look at the victim’s hand.

“The victim’s hands and feet have stakes through them, lack of blood and discolouration around the wounds suggests post mortem.”

“The victim’s throat is cut, almost decapitating him. Approximately 12 wounds to the chest area, left-hand side, once again the skin has been carved extensively.”

Magnus tapped his earbud and stopped recording. The three men left the house and Alec was finally able to take a deep breath. They moved over to join Lydia and Hodge who were standing on the front lawn.

“Any idea what those symbols are?” Alec asked Magnus and Raphael.

“They’re runes, sigils,” Raphael said as he scrolled through the photos on his camera.

“Runes?” Alec asked.

“Runic alphabet was used before the Latin alphabet was adopted,” Magnus explained, “But these aren’t Germanic. These are older, much older.”

“What are they then?” Lydia asked

“Something satanic?” Hodge asked.

“Angelic,” Raphael said matter of factly.

“Angelic? An angel did it?” Hodge said, rolling his eyes at the men.

Alec couldn’t help the annoyance that bubbled up in him. Hodge had been very vocal about his dislike of Detective bane, and his thoughts on how much a waste of resources the special investigations division was.

“Of course not,” Magnus said, annoyed. “These murders are not satanic, our killer thinks he’s doing divine work. He’s saving souls.”

“That makes sense,” Alec said. “The phrase on the TV fits that scenario.”

“The angel will bring you salvation,” Raphael said, reviewing the photo.

“Does everyone know Latin bar me?” Lydia asked, trying to lighten the tension.

A moment later, a van pulled up, and they watched as Officers Lewis and Lightwood exited along with a hand full of CSU techs.

“I’ve called Simon and Isabelle in,” Magnus explained.

“Simon, I need you to check the security system,” Magnus said as the officers joined them.

“Isabelle, I’d like you to oversee the techs and start with the upstairs bathroom. I think our perp cleaned up in there, let’s hope he left something behind.”

“On it,” Isabelle said, going back to the van to suit up and grab her kit.

“The vultures are here,” Lydia said annoyed as she spotted a news van pulling up down the street.

“Leave them to me,” Hodge said stalking off and snapping orders at the two police officers securing the perimeter.

Alec drifted over to where his sister was gearing up.

“Not such a great morning hey big brother,” Izzy said as she wriggled into her protective suit.

“No, Iz, it’s not, but good to see you,” He said honestly.

“Hey Iz,” Lydia said, stepping over to join them.

“Lydia!” Izzy said happily. “How was your dirty long weekend away?”

“It was heaven,” Lydia said sighing.

“Details,” Izzy asked excitedly as she changed her shoes.

“Seriously?” Alec said, annoyed. “That’s my cue to leave.” Alec took off back towards the house.

“Dead bodies he’s fine with but bring up sex and he runs for the hills,” Izzy laughed.

“He’s jealous, he seriously needs to get laid,” Lydia chuckled.

Alec could hear them talking about him and rolled his eyes. Sometimes he regretted introducing his sister to his partner. Of course, they would have eventually met anyway, but Izzy’s friendship with Lydia had been another reason that she’s been asked to be assigned to the 99.

Alec nodded to Magnus and Raphael who were talking beside the front door as he walked back into the house. He found Officer Lewis in the small laundry area, checking out the security systems control panel.

“Anything? He asked, causing Simon to jump.

“Shit,” Simon exclaimed. “I didn’t hear you.”

“Sorry, Si,” Alec said smirking.

“It’s OK, guess I’m a little nervous in a house full of murder victims.”

Simon turned back to the panel and snapped back into work mode.

“The security system has been tampered with,” He explained. “According to the system, the alarm is armed, but of course, it can’t be because it’s not going off.”

“Any idea how and when it was done?” Alec asked.

“Difficult to say, it could have been done weeks ago or just last night, but I can tell you that it was armed last night at 9 pm.”

“How difficult would it have been to tamper with the system?”

“Not very, this system is old, honestly any mid-level petty criminal would have been able to do it.”

“Just great,” Alec said, annoyed, adding to his notes. That really wasn’t much help to them.

“I think our entry point was the back door,” Simon added. “Check out the scratch marks on the lock.”

Alec headed to the back door and looked at the lock. Simon was right, someone had picked the lock, but once again there was no way to tell when.

Alec headed upstairs, moving from room to room, adding observations to his notes. While he was in one of the rooms, he realised he could clearly hear the tech in the next room muttering to himself.

How was it then that their perp was able to take all 6 people in the house unaware. They should have heard something, but not a single one of them had left their bed last night.

Alec heard footsteps and turned to find Magnus standing in the doorway.

“Simon found the possible entry point,” Alec told him.

“Raph is checking it out, we’ll get a tech to dust, but something tells me they won’t find anything,” Magnus said.

Magnus took in Alec for a moment, he didn’t get many opportunities to do it up close. He really was a beautiful man. Magnus noticed that he was frowning, something obviously on his mind.

“Something bothering you about the scene?” Magnus asked.

“There were 6 people in this house. These walls are paper-thin. How did they not hear anything?” Alec asked.

Magnus thought for a moment. Alec had a good point. If they had just been merely asleep, someone would have screamed, struggled, tried to run, but there were no signs of it. Each and every one of them had been in their beds when they were killed.

“Drugged?” Magnus finally said.

“They had to be,” Alec agreed.

“The ME and his people have just arrived, I’ll ask him to check for it,” Magnus said, turning to go downstairs. “I’ll get the techs to bag everything in the kitchen.”

Alec moved towards the bathroom, inside he could see Izzy. She was bagging bloody towels.

“There are at least 8 towels in this tub,” She said. “I think he cleaned up the bodies before he moved them.”

“Makes sense, there isn’t much blood downstairs.”

Alec left Izzy to her work and walked out of the house. He took a deep breath before making his way over to Hodge and the others.

There wasn’t much else they could do at the scene, for now, so leaving CSU and the ME to their work, they all returned to the precinct.

“Did you want to grab some lunch?” Lydia asked.

“No, thanks,” Alec said. Despite it being late afternoon, Alec didn’t have much of an appetite, not after everything he’d seen today.

“Yeah, me neither,” Lydia said, taking her seat. Alec had just sat down at his desk when he heard his captain.

“Detectives, conference room 1,” He snapped striding towards the room.

Alec and Lydia rushed to follow him. A moment later they were joined by Magnus, Raphael and Hodge.

“I have Aldertree out making notifications, what do we have?” Captain Garroway asked.

Alec was the primary on the case, so he opened his notebook and started his report.

“We have 6 victims, 5 residents and the centre manager,” Alec explained. “They all had prints in the system, so it was easy to make the ID’s.”

“The assistant manager, who also happened to be the mangers husband, is in Florida visiting his sick mother, he’s flying back as we speak,” Lydia added. “Raphael and I will be meeting him at the airport in about an hour.”

“The security system was tampered with, so despite being set at 9 pm last night, it was useless. We believe that the victims may have been drugged as there were no signs of struggle or flight at the scene,” Alec added.

Alec nodded to Magnus, who took over.

“I’ve asked CSU to collect all the food and drink in the house,” he explained, “and the ME is going to do a full tox panel on the victims.”

“They were all killed in their beds, then cleaned up, re-dressed in some cases and taken downstairs and posed,” Alec added.

“What about these symbols you found on the bodies?” Luke asked.

Raphael took over. “They are runes, angelic sigils,” he explained. “It’s an ancient language. I doubt there are more than a handful of people that can read it, let alone write it and our perps handy work didn’t vary, so he’s very familiar with writing them.”

“I have my team working on a list of those people as we speak,” Magnus said.

“And the message on the TV?”

“The angels will bring you salvation,” Raphael read from his notes.

“So our perp thinks he’s saving these people?” Luke asked.

“We think so,” Magnus said

“Saving them from what?”

“Well it was a homeless shelter,” Raphael said.

“A queer shelter,” Hodge added.

“An LGBTIQA+ homeless shelter,” Lydia corrected as she felt Alec tense beside her. She knew how much he hated that word.

“So hate crime?” Luke asked cringing.

“Not necessarily,” Magnus explained. “It is honestly too hard to come to that conclusion from one crime scene.”

“Well let’s hope we don’t have to deal with second crime scene just to confirm it,” Luke said, letting out an annoyed breath.

“This conference room will be your base of operations, it will be easier since both Homicide and Special Investigation will be working the case together,” Luke explained. “Whatever you need see Jace.”

Jace Wayland was Captain Garroway’s Administrative aide, and he also happened to be Alec and Izzy’s adoptive brother.

Unlike the Lightwood siblings, Jace had decided against a career in law enforcement and had tried his hand at numerous jobs. He’d worked as a pizza delivery guy, barista, personal trainer and receptionist at a tattoo parlour. When Captain Garroway’s previous aide had decided to retire, Maryse Lightwood, the Police commissioner had asked Luke to take Jace on. At first, Luke had been wary, but Jace was great with people, and his organisational skills were impressive, so two years on Jace was still in the job, and everyone was happy.

Jace had also met his now girlfriend, through work. Clary Fairchild was Luke’s stepdaughter, and she also worked part-time as the police sketch artist.

As soon as Luke and Hodge left the room, the team got to work. Lydia was on the phone to Jace organising whiteboard, and Magnus had Simon in setting up their laptops. The precinct did have an IT guy, but Simon was quicker and more efficient.

“Thanks, Si,” Alec said as he booted up his machine.

“Anytime,” Simon smiled.

“Magnus you’re next, where do you want me to set you up?” Simon asked.

“Right here’s fine,” Magnus said, pointing to the spot right next to Alec. Alec looked at Magnus, surprised for a moment but then turned back to his machine. Raphael had set up on the other side of the table, and Alec had assumed Magnus would prefer to sit next to him, guess he thought wrong.

“You don’t mind Alec?” Magnus said, moving behind Alec to give Simon room to work.

“Of course not,” Alec smiled at him.

“I hate having my back the door,” Magnus explained.

Alec chuckled, “Me too.” That was the exact reason Alec had chosen his seat.

“We should probably get moving,” Lydia said to Raphael. “Traffic is going to be a nightmare.”

“I’m driving,” Raphael said, snagging his keys off the table.

“Have you been bad-mouthing my driving Lightwood?” Lydia said, giving Alec and accusing stare.

“I think the number of duty vehicles you’ve had in the last month alone speaks volumes Branwell,” Alec chuckled.

Lydia gave Alec the bird as he walked out of the room.

“Not very ladylike,” Simon laughed.

“Lydia’s no lady, she’s a detective,” Alec added.

After their laptops were all set up, Alec and Magnus got started on their murder boards. It always helped to have visuals when working this sort of case, because you never knew when something might jump out at you. Magnus worked on setting up the first board with their victims, while Alec worked on the scene and their leads so far, which sadly weren’t much all.

After the boards where done, they got started on their files. Paperwork was sadly a big part of police work, and when you had multiple victims that meant much more paperwork.

“Do you think we need duplicates of everything?” Alec asked.

“It would be helpful to have my own copy,” Magnus said as he pulled off labels and stuck them onto folders.

“Maybe I should make 4 copies, one for Lydia and Raphael as well?”

“Good thinking,” Magnus smiled up at Alec.

“Did you want anything from the breakroom?” Alec asked. “I’ll stop there on the way back.”

“If I drink any more coffee, I may never get to sleep, not that I think I’ll do much tonight anyway,” Magnus said sadly. “Maybe a bottle of water.”

“Two bottles of waters coming right up,” Alec smiled at Magnus as he made his way out of the room.

Magnus couldn’t help watch Alec go. He thought back to the notes he’d left on Alec’s desk and wondered if he should put that little idea on hold, they’d seemed like a good idea at the time, but now he was worried that perhaps he hadn’t thought it through, maybe he was being super creepy.

They were going to have to work closely together, and as much as Magnus hoped they’d catch their perp quickly, he wasn’t very confident about it. Their perp seemed to be a smart one. Magnus didn’t want to risk their working relationship because he was crushing on Detective Lightwood.

Magnus had all the folders ready by the time Alec returned copies and water in hand.

“I think that copier hates me,” Alec said, annoyed. “My stupid code wouldn’t work, so I used Lydia’s.”

“Maybe you’ve used your quota,” Magnus said.

“This limit thing is ridiculous, it’s not like I was copying my butt,” Alec grumbled.

“Because that’s something people do here?” Magnus asked.

“Raj,” Alec smirked and watched Magnus cringe. “Don’t worry, we had Jace disinfect the machine.”

Magnus reached for his water, “Thanks.”

“Anytime,” Alec said, taking his seat.

They sat in silence working together, putting together four copies of their working file.

“Did you ever think there would be so much paperwork involved when you became a cop?” Magnus asked as they worked.

“Well I come from a long line of cops, so I sort of had an idea,” Alec admitted.

“Right,” Magnus laughed. “How could I forget? How many generations is it?”

“Three on my mum’s side, four on my dad’s,” Alec explained blushing slightly.

“Family business,” Magnus smiled.

“You could say that, thankfully, there wasn’t really anything else I ever wanted to be growing up,” Alec said honestly.

“Me either,” Magnus beamed at him. “My mother wasn’t very keen on it at first, but she’s come around.”

“I can understand that it’s a hard, dangerous job with long hours and shitty pay,” Alec laughed.

“But we wouldn’t want to do anything else,” Magnus added.

“Exactly!” Alec beamed at him.

Alec sat back in his chair and stretched. He’d been hunched over the files in front of him for what felt like hours. His back was sore, his ass was numb, and his head was throbbing, but he couldn’t call it a night just yet.

The man beside Alec shifted and turned, giving Alec a small smile that had butterflies in his stomach take flight. How could he still look so incredible, Alec thought to himself? They spent most of the morning and early afternoon at the crime scene and the last few hours in the conference room. It had been a long day, and Magnus looked just as fresh as he had when he’d walked into the precinct that morning.

“These chairs aren’t very ergonomic,” Magnus chuckled as he shifted.

“I’m not sure the department knows what the word ergonomic means,” Alec said, smiling back at the detective. “My desk chair is older than me.”

Alec’s phone vibrated on the table, and he looked down and frowned.

“Lydia and Raphael are back,” He said. “They are bringing the husband up.”

Magnus nodded, and both men stood, getting to work. They turned the two murder boards around and pushed them up against the wall behind them, before tidying up the files that they had spread out on the conference table and closing their laptops.

Martin Davis-Hall was the husband of the Sanctuary’s director, James Davis-Hall. James had been their lawn victim. Martin had been away in Florida visiting his elderly mother for the last 3 days, she’d recently had a bad fall. They had cleared him from any involvement with the crime almost immediately.

Lydia walked into the conference room followed by a short, dark-haired man, his clothes were rumpled, his eyes rimmed with red and he looked like he hadn’t slept in days. Hodge had called Mr Davis-Hall earlier that morning, and he’d broken down during the call. They had had to send officers from the closest precinct to where he was staying in Florida to explain the situation to him. He’d taken the first flight he could get back to New York, and they had organised to collect him from the airport.

Raphael walked into the room, placing two bags by the door before stepping outside.

“Can I get you anything, Mr Davis-Hall?” Lydia asked.

“No, thank you,” The man said almost in a whisper. Lydia turned and left the room, the man didn’t need a room full of cops right now.

“Mr Davis-Hall,” Magnus said, stepping forward. “I’m Detective Magnus Bane, and this is Detective Alec Lightwood. Please take a seat.”

The man looked at the chair beside him as if he hadn’t noticed it before and pulled it out, sitting slowly. He sat there for a moment his head down before look up and around the room.

“I don’t understand how . . .” he started to say. “Why would someone . . .” he got out before the tears began to flow.

‘This was the worst part of the job’ Alec thought to himself and the most difficult part. Alec always found he could never think of anything to say to the families of their victims because honestly, there were no words that could fix this.

Magnus shifted forward and wrapped an arm around Martin, letting him cry himself dry. After a few moments, the man pulled away and looked at Magnus apologetically.

“I’m so sorry,” he finally said composing himself.

“Mr Davis-Hall, you have nothing to be sorry about,” Magnus said. He shifted to the back of the room and grabbed a small box of tissues placing them on the table beside Martin.

“I thought I was all cried out, but I guess not,” Martin said as he blew his nose. “I just can’t believe he’s gone.”

“Mr Davis-Hall,” Alec said, taking a seat. “We don’t need to do this now, we could have someone take you home.”

“Home?” Martin said. “I can’t go back to that house.”

It suddenly occurred to them that Martin had lived at The Sanctuary with James. If he hadn’t been out of town, there was a good chance that he too would have been one of their victims.

“Do you have someone you can stay with?” Magnus asked.

“Jim’s sister,” Martin said.

“Did you want us to call her?” Alec asked.

“Yes please,” He said, handing his phone to Alec.

Alec passed the phone to Lydia, who had stepped into the room with a bottle of water. “Lydia, could you please call Mr Davis-Hall’s sister in law.”

“Jane Cook,” Martin explained.

Magnus took a seat, and they were all quiet for a moment until Martin finally spoke.

“Where’s Jim?” he asked.

“At the ME’s office,” Alec explained.

“Do I need to go . . .” he started to ask.

“No need,” Magnus said. “We were able to make ID’s using prints.”

“They’re all gone?” Martin asked.

“I’m afraid so,” Magnus said. “We’re still in the process of making notifications.”

“I doubt some of their families will care,” Martin said sadly. “There was a reason they were living at The Sanctuary. Chris doesn’t have any family.”

Alec pulled out a list of their victims’ names.

“Chris Clark?” he asked.

“Yes, they only had an elderly grandmother, but she passed away 3 months ago.”

Martin’s eyes fell on the list, and he blinked back tears. A second later, Alec noticed a confused look come over him.

“Is there something wrong, Mr Davis-Hall?” he asked.

“It’s Martin,” he corrected and then pulled the list from Alec’s hand. “And there’s a name missing.”

“Missing?”

“We had 6 residence at Sanctuary,” Martin explained. “Sebastian isn’t on your list?”

Magnus sat up, pulling his laptop towards him, opening.

“Sebastian, who?”

“Sebastian Verlac.”

“Do you have any details on Sebastian?” Alec asked, making a note in his file.

“I’d have something back at the house,” Martin explained.

“How long was he a resident at Sanctuary?” Magnus asked.

“He’s been with us for about 3 weeks. He said he was a native New Yorker, but his accent was a little off, but we didn’t want to pry. We offer a place for people to stay, to be safe, we don’t interrogate our residents.”

Magnus pulled up a database and searched for the name. He got two hits in New York. The first was a man in his 70’s, the second a young man in his mid-20’s.

“Is this Sebastian?” Magnus asked, turning his laptop towards Martin.

Martin looked at the picture for a long moment. “It looks like him, but it’s not quite right. Seb’s eyes weren’t blue, and his frame was a little smaller, his hair was blonder, I think he dyes it.”

Lydia walked back into the room and handed Martin back his phone. “I just spoke to Jane, She’ll be here in 10 minutes.”

“Thank you,” Martin said, placing his phone on the table.

“Martin, would you happen to have a picture of Sebastian?” Magnus asked.

“I don’t think . . . Oh, I might,” He said, picking up his phone. He scrolled through his social media for a moment before holding his phone out for Magnus and Alec to see.

“I took some photos last week, it was Josh’s birthday,” Martin said blinking back tears. The photo on his phone showed their victims, all huddled together in the kitchen of Sanctuary, around a small chocolate cake. They were all beaming, smiling widely for the camera. At the back of the group stood a tall man with strikingly blonde hair and dark eyes. He wasn’t smiling, he looked to be glaring at the camera.

“That’s Seb at the back,” Martin said. “I remember now that he didn’t like getting his picture taken, this is the only one he’s in.”

“Can we get a copy of this photo?” Magnus asked.

“It should be in the gallery on my phone,” Martin said, handing it to Magnus.

“Thank you,” he said, rushing out of the room to get the phone to Simon.

“Could Seb have. .?” Martin choked not sure if he could get the words out.

“At this stage, we can’t speculate Martin,” Alec said. “He wasn’t in the house, he wasn’t one of the victims, but he could have been away for the night.”

Martin shook his head in understanding. “You’re right,” he said softly. “Seb was a nice guy, a little strange but nice. He loved helping around the house, he loved to cook.”

“Did Sebastian have a job?” Alec asked.

“He got a job about 2 weeks ago, an orderly at St Mary’s Hospital,” Martin stated.

“Which room was he staying in?”

“The Green Room, there is a shamrock on the door,” Martin explained.

Alec picked up his notebook and made a few notes.

“Martin, could you tell me a little bit about the day to day at Sanctuary?” Alec asked.

Martin explained about the rosters they had for all the residents and how everyone pulled their own weight when it came to chores etc.

“Did the residents have keys?”

“No,” Martin explained. “We initially gave our residents keys, but we had such a turn over the first few years that we found we lost so many of them. We ended up changing the locks and installing a security system. Sanctuary isn’t prison of course, but we do have a curfew, 11 pm unless you discussed staying out later with one of us beforehand.”

“Was the alarm turned on at night?”

“Yes, if everyone was accounted for we’d lock up for the night.”

“So if someone came home after curfew?”

“They’d have to buzz or call Jim or myself,” Martin explained. “We did have a few creative residents who would let themselves in the backdoor from time to time, which is why we started setting the alarm, and they all knew it would be on.”

When Magnus returned to the conference room, he had Martin’s sister in law with him. She immediately went to Martin and pulled him into a hug, both of them bursting into tears.

Alec and Magnus stepped out of the room, giving the two of them some privacy.

“Sebastian Verlac recently started working as an orderly at St Mary’s,” Alec explained. “If he doesn’t turn up tonight, that might be a good place to start our search for him tomorrow.”

“I’ve got Simon working on that photo. I’ll make sure its sent to the officers posted at The Sanctuary just in case he turns up,” Magnus explained.

“The Sanctuary had a curfew, 11 pm and the alarm was set every night because it seems there were few incidents where residents let themselves in via the back door.”

“Well if this Sebastian is our perp, there would have been no need for him to break-in, he was already inside.”

“True,” Alec said frowning. “And he would have had access to the security system.”

“We’ll need to get CSU back to the scene to process his room,” Alec said, thinking out loud.

By the time Martin left the precinct with his sister in law, it was after 8 pm.

“We should call it a night,” Lydia said, finishing off her bottle of water. “Make an early start tomorrow with fresh eyes.”

“Good idea,” Magnus said, shutting down his laptop.

Alec started packing up, and it didn’t escape Magnus’ attention that he packed his copy of their working file into his laptop bag alongside his computer.

“8 am tomorrow?” Raphael asked.

“Perfect,” Magnus said.

“I’ll organise coffees,” Alec said.

“Just as long as it's not that crap they call coffee in the breakroom,” Lydia chuckled.

“Would I do that to you?” Alec laughed before jotting down, Magnus and Raphael’s coffee orders. He already knew Lydia’s by heart.


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The investigation into the murders at The Sanctuary is in full swing and Sebastian Verlac is shaping up as their prime suspect.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All,
> 
> The second chapter is finally done! I thought about posting short chapters so I could update more quickly but honestly, I think it will mess with my flow so going to stick to my pattern. 
> 
> Life is getting back to normal here in Melbourne, Australia, our restrictions are slowly lifting and kids are back at school, so I'm hoping to have more time to write as I don't have to juggle work and teaching! 
> 
> In real police work, gathering evidence, waiting for lab results etc all takes time and doesn't happen almost instantly as it does in a 45 minute TV show, so in upcoming chapters, there will be some time jumps. I really don't want to write chapter after chapter about nothing happening and I'm sure you don't want to read it either. 
> 
> Another little note, I'm not sure if Max Lightwood will be in this fic. I actually haven't got him in my outline and I honestly didn't notice until I was re-reading it the other night. 
> 
> If you like the fic, please leave a kudos and feel free to leave a comment. They are always appreciated and do fuel my writers soul. 
> 
> Hope you are all safe and well and the craziness is calming down wherever in the world you are.

Magnus felt his heart stop and his breath catch in his throat as he walked into the precinct gym the next morning at 6 am to find a shirtless Alec Lightwood working a punching bag. It was like all his fantasies had come to life before his very eyes.

Magnus knew that on occasion Alec used the gym, and he was known to be found in the gym using the punching bag, to let off his pent up frustration after a long day but mornings he preferred to run out in nature according to his sister.

Magnus let his eyes roam over Alec’s strong muscular back. He knew the man was fit, but he never knew he was this ripped. He was lean and muscular in all the right places, and Magnus couldn’t help licking his lips as he watched a small bead of sweat travel down from the back of Alec’s neck, down the planes of his back to disappear at the waistband of the sweats that sat tantalisingly low on his hips.

Not for the first time since Magnus had developed his crush on the detective, did he realise he was acting like a creep by staring at him so openly. Magnus stepped into the room, ensuring that he moved into Alec’s line of sight.

Alec startled for a moment when he noticed the movement to his left, but then a lopsided smile spread over his gorgeous face. Magnus felt his heart flutter because of all of Alec’s smiles, he knew this was the most genuine. It was the smile he always had on his face when he greeted his sister.

“Hey Magnus,” Alec said, pulling the earbuds from his ears.

“Good morning Alec, I see I wasn’t the only one, not able to sleep.”

“It’s hard to not let a case like this play on your mind,” Alec said honestly.

“True,” Magnus said, stepping closer. “I guess working out is one of the healthier coping mechanisms.”

Magnus held Alec’s eyes, using all his willpower not to let his eyes dip to the incredible expanse that was Alec’s chest. The small hairs glistened with sweat, and Magnus’ mind went haywire at the thought of tasting the man in front of him.

Alec picked up the small towel on the floor at his feet and wiped down his face and chest before picking up his t-shirt.

“No need to cover up on my account,” Magnus teased getting himself under control.

Alec hesitated for a moment before pulling the shirt over his head. Magnus was rewarded with a pink flush that spread over Alec’s cheeks and down his neck.

“Do you work out every morning?” Alec asked.

“I try to,” Magnus smiled at the apparent shift away from Magnus’ flirting.

“I usually prefer to run, but the weather doesn’t always allow for it,” Alec explained.

“Yes, I don’t think running in the rain this morning would have been the best of ideas.”

Magnus shifted to one of the treadmills, and Alec joined him taking the other.

After adjusting the speed to a comfortable walk, Alec and Magnus fell into a comfortable silence.

As Alec ramped up his speed, Magnus noticed he had one earbud in.

“What are you listening to?” Magnus asked curiously.

Alec turned, slowing down his treadmill, “Promise not to laugh?”

“Of course,” Magnus smirked, how embarrassing could it be.

“80’s pop, I’m sort of addicted.”

Magnus beamed at Alec. “That’s absolutely nothing to be ashamed of Alec. I love 80’s, pop and rock. The 80’s were awesome.”

Alec smiled widely and pulled out the second earbud from the pouch on his arm, which held his phone. “Did you want to share?” He asked.

“Yes please,” Magnus said excitedly, taking the earbud from Alec.

When Magnus placed the earbud into his ear he giggled, it was one of his favourite songs.

“I love Culture Club,” he said happily.

Both Alec and Magnus ramped up their speed, and soon they were running side by side as they listened to Alec’s 80’s playlist that included everyone A-ha to Wa Wa Nee.

At 7.30, both Alec and Magnus were in the conference room, freshly showered and going over their notes.

“I should go grab the coffees,” Alec said, taking in the time.

“Did you need a hand?” Magnus asked.

“I’ll be fine,” Alec smiled at Magnus. “I might grab some pastries any preferences?”

“Anything sweet and buttery is fine by me,” Magnus chuckled.

“A man after my own heart,” Alec joked and then flushed adorably once he realised what he’d said.

Magnus decided to let the comment go, and Alec rushed out of the room. Magnus waited for a few minutes before he left the conference room and made his way over to Alec’s desk. The floor was relatively quiet, so he slipped the note out of his pocket and onto Alec’s keyboard.

Whether or not to continue with the notes had been on Magnus’ mind as he tossed and turned last night. In the end, he decided to continue. He had a plan, it wasn’t a very good one, but it was a plan none the less.

As Alec rushed back into the precinct with coffees and pastries, he almost tripped over his own feet when he saw the envelope on his keyboard. He hadn’t stopped by his desk at all this morning, because his laptop was in the conference room, so he had no idea when the note had been left there.

Alec stopped at his desk, putting down the coffees and pastries before picking up the envelope. He turned it over, still nothing on the outside. Opening it up, he pulled out the slip of paper.

_‘Thank you for reminding me what butterflies feel like.’_

Alec felt his cheeks flush as he read the note over a few times, before putting it back into the envelope and stuffing it into his drawer with the others. He needed to figure out a way to find who was leaving the notes on his desk. If he found out it was Jace, and this was all some sort of prank, he was going to kill him.

Alec decided he’d talk to Simon, he might have an idea of how to catch the person leaving them. He just had to come up with a good story first because Simon wasn’t known to be able to keep a secret or his mouth shut and he didn’t want everyone to know about the notes.

Scooping up the coffees and pastries, Alec made his way into the conference room, where he found Raphael sitting at his computer, tapping away. There was no sign of Magnus or Lydia.

“Black eye as requested,” Alec said, sitting Raphael’s cup beside him.

“Thanks, Alec,” Raphael said, looking up from his typing. “Magnus will be back in a moment, he’s just upstairs checking in with Simon and Isabelle.”

“I’ve brought pastries as well,” Alec said, popping the bag down in the middle of the table. “Help yourself.”

“Don’t mind if I do,” Jace chuckled as he walked into the room.

“Don’t you dare,” Alec scowled at him. “Get your own breakfast, Jace.”

“Come come now, that’s no way to treat your little brother,” Jace laughed.

“Where’s my new chair?” Alec asked, annoyed. He’d put a request in for a new chair almost 4 months ago.

“You know I don’t have it in my budget to just replace chairs willy nilly Alec,” Jace groaned.

“Willy nilly?” Raphael parroted glaring at Jace. “What are you, 5?”

“My desk chair is falling apart,” Alec growled.

“Just swap it with Raj’s,” Jace laughed.

Alec rolled his eyes. “No, thank you.”

Magnus strode into the conference room with Lydia hot on his tail.

“Caramel macchiato,” Alec said, holding out a cup to Lydia.

“Just what I need, thanks,” Lydia said happily.

“Long Black, no sugar for Magnus,” Alec smiled handing Magnus his.

“Thank you, Alec,” Magnus beamed at him.

“And here I thought you were the only person who drank that swill,” Jace laughed.

“Mr Wayland,” Magnus said sternly, “Don’t you have a job to do?”

“Yes Detective,” Jace said, turning tail and leaving the room.

“How did you do that?” Lydia laughed.

“I have no idea why, but for some reason, Jace seems to be afraid of me,” Magnus laughed.

“I’ll have to remember that,” Alec chuckled as he took his seat.

Coffees were drunk, and the pastries were almost gone, when their Lieutenant popped his head into the room.

“Lightwood, Bane, Captains’ office, pronto,” He said before taking off.

“What have you two done now?” Lydia joked.

“Guess our briefing will have to wait,” Alec said standing.

“Any ideas?” Magnus asked as they made their way to Luke’s office.

“Your guess is as good as mine,” Alec said, shrugging his shoulders.

Alec and Magnus entered the room and found their Lieutenant parked in the corner of the room.

“Sit,” Captain Garroway said motioning to the two seats in front of his desk. “Close the door.”

Magnus closed the door behind them, and Alec felt a chill go through him, something was up, and he had a feeling he wasn’t going to like it.

Luke let out an annoyed breath, it was evident that he wasn’t looking forward to his conversation.

“I received a call from the Commissioners' office. They want Detective Bane taking the lead on the Sanctuary case.”

“What?” Magnus exclaimed not even giving Alec a chance to react. “This is Detective Lightwoods case,” Magnus added. “Why is he being pulled?”

“That’s an excellent question,” Luke said, turning to Alec. “Any ideas, Detective?”

Alec sighed and took a deep breath, it was almost as if he were expecting this to happen the moment he realised what sort of shelter The Sanctuary was.

“Why would Commissioner Lightwood want you off such a high profile case?” Magnus asked, confused.

“It’s simple,” Alec began. “It’s because of the link to the LGBTIQA+ community.”

Magnus still looked confused, but Luke and Hodge just shook their heads, they both knew Maryse Lightwood very well.

“My mother disagrees with my lifestyle choice. She tolerates the phase I’m going through but refuses to acknowledge it, especially publicly.”

“You’ve got to be kidding me?” Magnus said, shocked.

“Her words,” Alec sighed. “My guess she’s concerned my sexuality will come out due to the high profile this case will earn.”

“Why would it?” Magnus barked. “You’re not going to let her walk all over you like this are you?”

“No one crosses Commissioner Lightwood,” Alec said sadly.

“Captain?” Magnus turned to Luke.

“I’m not letting her do any such thing,” Captain Garroway growled. “I don’t give a shit about your sexuality and Maryse’s personal prejudices have no bearing on your job and how you do it.”

“So?” Magnus asked.

“We have six victims, you’re of equal rank, you’re both leads on this case,” Luke explained. “I assume you can work together.”

“Of course,” Alec said quickly.

“Definitely,” Magnus smiled.

“We have a presser at 2 pm out the front of the precinct, I want you both there, dismissed.”

“Yes, Sir,” Alec and Magnus said in unison as they both left the room.

“Is it wise pissing Maryse off like that?” Hodge asked.

“I’m not taking my best detective off a multiple homicide case because she’s still living in the dark ages.”

“What’s news?” Lydia asked as they walked back into the conference room.

Before Alec could even open his mouth, Magnus launched into his story. “Since we’re dealing with multiple homicides, Captain Garroway has decided to place both Alec, and I as leads on the case.”

“Is that all?” Raphael said, before turning back to his computer.

“That’s about it,” Alec said relieved that Magnus had decided not to go into any more detail.

“Meeting in 5,” Alec said, turning and leaving the conference room. Alec made his way into the men's room, splashing his face with water, trying to calm his anger.

By the time Alec returned to the conference room Simon and Izzy were already there and finishing off the last of the pastries.

“Where was our coffee’s?” Izzy asked her brother a little annoyed.

“I . . . Sorry Iz, Si, I didn’t think,” Alec said honestly.

“It’s fine, Alec, I picked up coffees for the both of us,” Simon explained. “Like I do every morning.” He glared at Izzy who did the adult thing and poked her tongue out at Simon.

“Shall we get started?” Raphael said a little annoyed.

Magnus started the meeting off, “Sebastian Verlac is a person of interest,” he said, pointing to the photo they’d gotten from Martin on their murder board.

“What do we know about Verlac?” Lydia asked.

“Not much, employment records show he worked at St Paul's Hospital for 2 years as an orderly before leaving abruptly and starting work at St Mary’s hospital 2 weeks ago,” Magnus explained

“Sebastian Verlac’s DMV records list his as 6’1”, blue eyes, blond hair and living at an address in Brooklyn. According to Martin Davis-Hall, the man staying at the Sanctuary had dark eyes, bleached hair and was 5’10 at most,” Alec added.

“Simon, Isabelle,” Magnus said. “We need you to go back to The Sanctuary this morning. Simon, I need you to go through the files, see what they have on Verlac. Isabelle, I need you to go through Sebastian’s room.”

Both Simon and Isabelle nodded in understanding.

“I have a lead on a professor at the University of Pennsylvania who may know something about the runes,” Raphael explained. “He can see me anytime today.”

“That’s at least an hour and a half drive,” Magnus said.

“Almost two with traffic,” Raphael corrected.

“Take Lydia,” Magnus looked at Alec, who nodded in compliance. “Alec and I need to be here at 2 pm for a press conference.”

“I can get us there in an hour and a half easily,” Lydia smirked. Raphael gave a small chuckle and threw Lydia his car keys.

“We’re taking my car,” He said. “Your Junker is a death trap.”

“Alec and I will go to the ME’s this morning,” Magnus said, smiling at Alec.

“Right, anything else?” Alec asked. Everyone nodded in the negative. “Let’s get to work.”

Everyone cleared out of the conference room, leaving Alec and Magnus alone. After a moment, Magnus turned to Alec.

“Are you OK?” Magnus asked concern on his face. He had wanted to ask since they’d left Luke’s office, but he’d held back until it was just the two of them.

Alec shrugged, he wasn’t entirely sure if he was or not. The concern on Magnus’ face made Alec’s heart clench.

“I hope you don’t mind what I told the others,” Magnus said realising Alec didn’t have an answer for his first question.

“You could have just told them the truth,” Alec said honestly.

They sat in silence and Alec could tell that Magnus wanted to ask him something.

“You can ask,” Alec finally said.

“Has she done something like this before?”

“Sadly, she has,” Alec said. “She tried to block my assignment to the 99. She wanted me assigned to another more prestigious precinct, but I wanted to work with Luke and Hodge.”

Magnus was lost of words.

“I’m the eldest, it is up to me to uphold the Lightwood name, the Lightwood honour. My parents have always pushed me harder, expected more from me than my siblings. They had plans for me, for my career,” Alec explained. “It took me almost 15 years to come out to them. 15 years of living a lie, of trying to live up to their expectations.”

Magnus could feel the anger, the sadness as it rolled off Alec in waves. His heart hurt for the beautiful man beside him.

“When I finally found the courage to do it, you know what my mother said? Alec laughed sadly. “No son of mine can be gay, don’t be ridiculous.”

“My father hasn’t really spoken to me about anything other than work since,” Alec said, shoulders slumping.

Magnus wanted to pull the man into his arms and hold him tight, he wanted to tell him that he was perfect just the way he is, but he knew he couldn’t do that. He definitely couldn’t do that here in the precinct for anyone to see, and they didn’t have that sort of relationship. Not yet at least, Magnus corrected, because it was clear to him that he wanted that more than anything, the more he got to know Alec.

So instead, Magnus let his hand move across the table, landing on top of Alec’s. When Alec didn’t pull away, Magnus gave his hand a comforting squeeze, and he was surprised when Alec turned his own hand, entwining their fingers.

“Alec, I don’t have the words,” Magnus said quietly.

Alec never discussed his parents, not even with his siblings, and here he was opening up his heart to Magnus. Technically they were almost strangers to one another, but Alec felt in his heart that they could be so much more and it scared and thrilled him all at once. When Magnus’ hand moved over his, his first instinct was to pull away, but instead, he’d entwined their fingers and held on. Magnus’ touch made him feel grounded, safe, and it was something Alec wasn’t used to, but he liked it, maybe too much.

The sound of a slamming door brought both Alec and Magnus back to themselves, and they pulled their hands back reluctantly.

Neither man had any idea what to say as they sat there until Alec decided to break the silence.

“The great Magnus Bane lost for words,” He teased.

Magnus looked at Alec in surprise, and then he broke out in a huge grin which Alec matched in seconds.

“We should go see the ME,” Magnus said, reigning in his emotions.

“Shit,” Alec said, shaking his head.

“What?” Magnus asked, confused.

“Raphael and Lydia took your car, which means we’re stuck with the Junker,” Alec chuckled.

Magnus burst into laughter. “We could always take a cab,” He laughed.

Alec and Magnus didn’t take a cab, even though they joked about it. Alec and Lydia’s police-issue vehicle wasn’t that bad, but it wasn’t that great either. The heater/air conditioner didn’t work, it smelled like stale toast, and there was a strange squeak that Alec was sure was the suspension, but they were stuck with it, for the time being, thanks to Lydia’s abysmal driving skills.

Thankfully traffic was light, and they were able to get to the ME’s office in under 20 minutes. Alec parked in a spot reserved for police, and they made their way into the build.

The ME was busy with another unrelated autopsy, so they found themselves waiting in his office for a few minutes while he finished up.

“It’s always so cold in here,” Magnus complained.

“I’m guessing that’s because of all the dead bodies,” Alec said matter of factly.

Magnus rolled his eyes and took a seat just as the ME walked into the room.

“Detective Lightwood, Detective Bane,” Dr Blackthorn said. “Sorry to keep you waiting.”

Dr Arthur Blackthorn had been the ME for over 15 years, and he was very good at his job. The man never missed anything, and he had very well trained staff that were just as thorough. He took his seat, and Alec took the seat next to Magnus.

“It’s fine Doc,” Magnus said. “We know you have quite a bit on your plate at the moment.”

“You could say that,” The doctor said shaking his head sadly. “We’ve only had a chance to get to three of your victims so far.”

“Is there anything you can tell us?” Alec asked.

The ME turned to his computer and pulled up his working file. He read over his notes for a moment.

“I’ve completed the autopsy on James Davis-Hall, Dan Perez and Melina Mar,” He said. “The other 3 are slated for this afternoon.”

“Each victim died from exsanguination, due to a wound to the neck. The chest wounds and carving of the skin were made post mortem. There was bruising to their sternums which would suggest your killer sat on their chest, as he slit their throats.” Dr Blackthorn said. “It was done up close and personal, and your killer is left-handed.”

“Left-handed?” Magnus asked.

“The wounds on the neck are cut from right to left, that sort of movement is too awkward if you’re right-handed.” Dr Blackthorn explained.

“The bodies were washed, so we didn’t find much trace evidence, a few fibres, which we’ve sent to the lab.”

“Each of the victims had a small puncture wound to the neck, most likely from a syringe, the area had been excised and swabbed. Hopefully, we’ll have the results back soon. I’ve also sent samples of their blood to be tested as per your request Detective Bane.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Magnus said as he tapped away on his phone.

Alec looked up from his notes. “We didn’t see any signs of struggle at the scene, is there anything on the body that indicates that they put up a fight?”

“Nothing, which to be honest is extraordinary. You know I hate to speculate and this is off the record, but I believe the tox panel will show some sort of sedative in their blood.”

“Could that be what was injected?” Magnus asked.

“I don’t think so, most sedatives take a few moments to take effect, and definitely enough time for the victim to react, but these victims didn’t.” The ME explained. “I think they were sedated first and then injected with something else.”

“Anything else Dr Blackthorn,” Alec asked.

“The carving of the body was done with great precision. It was a straight blade but the way it’s been moved along the skin, there was a control there that a regular knife just couldn’t give you. I think the perp used a swivel knife, the type someone working with leather would use. There are no hesitation marks, and the repeating characters are almost exact. That would have taken practice, experience, I’d be surprised if this is your perps first time.” Dr Blackthorn explained.

“We need to do a wider search, check the entire country,” Alec said to Magnus. They had already checked the police database for similar crimes within and around New York.

“We’ll get someone from CSU to check for possible tools,” Magnus said.

“Send Isabelle,” Dr Blackthorn said, smiling.

“Still trying to poach her?” Alec smiled at the man. Izzy had tossed up going to medical school and becoming an ME, but instead, she’d joined the force and completed a few forensics courses to appease her inner science nerd.

“There is always hope,” The ME chuckled.

“You can’t have her,” Magnus laughed.

Alec and Magnus bid the ME goodbye and decided to try Sebastian Verlac’s Brooklyn address before making their way back to the Precinct.

“Great Street,” Magnus said, taking in the trees. “Nice building.”

“Yeah, Clinton Hill is a nice area,” Alec said.

“Did you manage to find a place?” Alec asked, curious. “Izzy mentioned you were looking for a new place.”

“I did,” Magnus beamed. “I found a great loft in Greenpoint.”

“We’re practically neighbours then,” Alec smiled. “I’m in Williamsburg.”

Magnus tried the buzzer for Sebastian’s apartment with no luck and then buzzed the building caretaker.

The man didn’t look all that happy to see the Detectives, but he showed them up to Sebastian’s floor anyway.

Magnus knocked on the door and still no answer.

“Do you have a key to the apartment?” Alec asked.

“Do you have a warrant?” The man asked.

As if on cue, the door to the neighbouring apartment opened, and a woman stepped out looking at the small group curiously.

“Sebastian’s not home,” She said to the group. “He told you he’d be away Larry.”

The caretaker shrugged his shoulders, “I can’t be expected to remember everyone’s comings and goings.” He said, turning and making his way to the lift deciding he was done.

The woman scowled at him, “I would have thought it was part of his job, not that he does much anyway.”

“Do you know your neighbour well, Ms . . ?” Magnus asked.

“Maria,” She smiled. “We were friendly, chatted now and then.”

“You said he’s away?” Alec asked.

The woman hesitated for a moment, and Magnus realised they hadn’t introduced themselves.

“I’m Detective Bane, and this is Detective Lightwood,” Magnus explained.

“Is Sebastian in some sort of trouble?”

“No, not at all, his name came up in one of our investigations, and we wanted to do a welfare check and were hoping to ask him a few questions.”

“Why don’t you come inside,” Maria said, smiling at the men.

They followed Maria into her apartment, and she motioned for them to take a seat on the couch. “Would you like something to drink?” She asked politely.

“No, thank you,” Alec replied.

“Sebastian’s away?” Magnus asked.

“Yes, he’s been gone for about 3 weeks, he went on vacation with his boyfriend,” Maria said. “He asked me to water his plants and grab his mail.”

“Do you know when he’s expected to return?” Alec asked.

“They are on a 3-month tour of Europe,” Maria explained.

“That’s quite the vacation,” Magnus smiled.

“Honestly, I had a feeling it was more of a honeymoon than a vacation, but I didn’t want to pry, we were friends, but we weren’t all that close. Their first stop was London which is where his boyfriend was from, I think they were going to visit his family before travelling around Europe.”

“Would you happen to know the boyfriend's name?” Alec asked.

“John, I think, not really sure, we didn’t really talk much, just a nod hello every now and then,” Maria stated. “It was a little bit of a whirlwind romance because they’d only been dating for a few months. Sebastian met him at work, I think he’s a doctor or something.”

“If you’re watering his plants, does that mean you have keys to his apartment?” Magnus asked.

“I do,” Maria said cautiously. “But I’m not sure about letting you in without Sebastian’s OK.”

“You could come with us,” Alec said. “We just need to confirm that Sebastian isn’t in the apartment.”

“I guess that would be OK, you’re police after all, and if you can’t trust a cop, who can you trust,” Maria said, smiling.

Maria stood and walked over to the small table in her entryway, opening the drawer she retrieved a set of keys.

They followed Maria to Sebastian’s apartment and let her unlock the door, she was about to step inside when Magnus reached out to stop her.

“Maria, it’s best if you let us check the apartment out first, just in case,” Magnus explained.

“Just in case?” She asked, curious but stepped back when Magnus didn’t explain any further.

Alec and Magnus stepped inside, “Mr Verlac, NYPD.” They both announced to the apartment.

The entrance and lounge area looked spotless. Alec and Magnus cleared the apartment, as Maria hovered in the doorway, nothing looked out of place. Something caught Magnus’ eye in the kitchen and Alec watched him discreetly taking a photo with his phone.

“Thank you, Maria,” Magnus said as she locked up the apartment.

He pulled out his card, handing it to the woman. “Would you be able to give Sebastian my card on his return and ask him to call me?”

“Of course,” Maria smiled.

Alec handed her his card as well, “Would you also be able to give us a call if anyone else comes looking for Sebastian or if you see or hear anything unusual?” Alec asked.

Maria took his card, “Definitely Detective. I guess you can’t really tell me what this is all about, can you?”

“Sorry, Maria, we can’t discuss an ongoing investigation,” Alec explained.

“That apartment was spotless,” Magnus said as he buckled into the car.

“Too spotless,” Alec agreed. “What caught your eye in the kitchen?”

“You saw that?” Magnus smirked. “What are you some sort of detective or something?”

Alec laughed as Magnus pulled up the photo on his phone. It was a selfie of two men smiling happily at each other.

“My guess it’s Sebastian Verlac and his boyfriend,” Magnus said.

“Too bad they aren’t facing forward, but someone might recognise him,” Alec said, pulling into traffic.

“Let’s hope so. I’ll have Simon check with Customs and Border Protection, they should know if Sebastian Verlac has left the country,” Magnus said, pulling out his phone and sending Simon a text.

“We have just enough time to get back to the precinct and grab lunch before the presser, we’ll have to go to St Mary’s afterwards,” Alec said glancing at his watch.

“Sounds like a plan,” Magnus smiled at him.

30 minutes later, Alec and Magnus were both parked in the conference room, sandwiches in front of them, as they updated their files.

“This sandwich is terrible,” Magnus groaned as he took another bite. “But I’m too hungry not to eat it.”

Alec chuckled. “I’ve eaten Izzy’s cooking so dry bread and wilted lettuce doesn’t phase me.”

“She can’t be that bad of a cook can she?”

“She managed to give the whole family food poisoning with gingerbread cookies she baked for Christmas one year,” Alec explained.

Magus burst into laughter.

“Trust me, if you value your health, say No to anything that Izzy has cooked,” Alec laughed.

“Speaking of Isabelle, I’m going to duck upstairs and check on her and Simon and get him working on that search,” Magnus said wrapping the rest of his sandwich and tossing it into the garbage bin.

“I’ll come up and grab you just before they start,” Alec said, smiling.

Alec trudged up the stair to the Special Investigations office and stepped inside. The press conference was going to start in 20 minutes, he needed to find Magnus so that they could make their way out together. Show the press their unified front.

Alec hadn’t really been upstairs since Special Investigations had taken over the space, it was bright and airy, much more so than the floor below.

Alec stopped in his tracks as he turned to find his sister, sitting in Simon Lewis’ lap, giggling as he tried to type on his computer. Simon laughed, slapping Izzy’ hand way from his keyboard and Izzy threw her head back, laughing out loud.

Alec cleared his throat, and the two of them turned to see Alec glaring at them. Simon bolted upright from his chair, almost throwing Izzy to the floor in his haste to stand.

“Detective Lightwood,” Simon stammered embarrassed at the situation he’d been caught in.

Izzy laughed and righted herself before turning towards her brother.

“How can we help you, Detective?” She said teasingly, not an ounce of embarrassment in her voice.

Alec scowled for a moment before remembered why he’d come up there in the first place.

“I was looking for Detective Bane,” he said, trying to sound professional.

“Right behind you,” A voice said, and Alec turned to find Magnus standing there smirking at the scene in front of him.

“Press conference starts in 20,” Alec said.

“Well then, let me grab my jacket, and we should get moving,” Magnus stepped around Alec and made for his office, grabbing his jacket from the hook behind his door.

As he walked back into the main room, he couldn’t help but chuckle at the scene.

Alec was glaring at Simon, who was trying to make himself invisible and Izzy was standing there looking back and forth between the two men, an amused grin on her face.

“Shall we?” Magnus said, stepping towards Alec. “If we’re late the Captain won’t be happy.”

“Right,” Alec said, turning and heading for the stairs.

Alec led the way down the stairs, occasionally looking back at Magnus. Magnus chuckled because the look on Alec’s face told him he was dying to ask Magnus a question, but he really had no idea what to ask.

Alec got to the door that led to outside and reached for the handle. But instead of pulling it open, Alec turned and leaned back, looking back at Magnus.

“How long has that been going on?” Alec asked.

“What exactly are you referring too?” Magnus teased.

“Magnus!” Alec whined, and Magnus chuckled.

“I believe it’s fairly new,” Magnus said finally.

“And you’re Ok with it?” Alec asked.

“You’re not?” Magnus replied.

They stood there in silence until Magnus broke it. “As long as it doesn’t affect their jobs, I am OK with it. They are both adults, Alec.”

Alec sighed. He knew his sister was an adult, but that didn’t mean he couldn’t still look out for her. “I know that it’s just . . . well it's hard enough for a woman on the force . . .” Alec started to say.

“Is this the ‘protective big brother mode’ Isabelle has told me about?” Magnus smiled.

Alec chuckled, “I guess it is.” Alec ran his hand through his already messy hair.

“Alec, if I thought in any way that Simon would hurt Isabelle or her career and vice a versa, I would have put a stop to it from the start.” He said honestly.

Alec took a breath, letting Magnus’ words sink in. “OK,” he said before turning around and pulling open the door.

Alec and Magnus walked around the building and stopped short when they saw the circus in front of them. They had had quite a few press conference out the front of the precinct, but neither man had ever seen a crowd this big.

They pushed their way forward and took their spots behind the podium, standing at attention beside their Lieutenant. Not for the first time, Alec was struck with how good Magnus smelled.

Captain Garroway tapped the microphone on the podium and waited for the crowd to quieten down until he began to speak.

“Yesterday morning, two of our officers responding to a 911 call discovered the bodies of 6 victims. At this stage, we cannot release any further victim details but can confirm that the incident did take place at The Sanctuary.” Luke paused for a moment as the crowd murmured amongst themselves.

“Two of our best detectives, Detective Lightwood and Detective Bane have been assigned to the case. They, together with their team, are following up leads, and we hope to make a quick and speedy arrest.”

“Any questions?” Luke asked.

Luke watched as Lily Chen’s hand flew up, and he resisted the urge to groan. Lily was one of the best reporters in the city, which also made her one of the most annoying. She always seemed to be a step ahead of everyone else.

“Yes. Ms Chen,” Luke said as politely as possible.

“Are you treating this as a hate crime?” She asked.

“No,” Luke said sternly. “At this stage, there is no evidence of that.”

“But The Sanctuary is a shelter for LGBTIQA+ homeless is it not?”

“Yes, it is,” Luke explained. “But we do not believe that is why they were targeted.”

Luke knew what he was saying was a lie, they had no idea what the perp’s motivation was, but he did not want to spark a panic in the LGBTIQA+ community.

“Was Detective Bane put on the case because of his sexuality?” Lily yelled out.

It was well known that Magnus was one of the NYPD’s poster boys for inclusivity and diversity.

“Definitely not,” Luke retorted. “Detective Bane was assigned to his case because of his experience and expertise.”

“Detective Lightwood and Detective Bane are two of, if not my best detectives.”

“Is it true,” Lily continued. “That the police commissioner asked for Detective Lightwood to be removed from the case?”

Luke wanted to swear, to turn and stomp away and ignore the press at his door, but he knew he couldn’t do that. Instead, he held his tongue. How the hell did she get this information?

“Absolutely not,” Luke said, trying to school his features.

Luke ignored Lily’s attempts at further questions, answer a few generic ones from other members of the press before finally putting an end to the press conference and making his way back into the precinct.

Luke, Hodge, Magnus and Alec all piled into the lift, and as soon as the doors closed, Luke let out a frustrated curse. “Fuck, can someone tell me how that woman always seems to know everything that goes on in this precinct?”

“We have a leak,” Hodge said frowning, it was the only answer.

“Well that was fun,” Magnus said as he and Alec made their way to his car.

“You and I have very different views on what’s fun,” Alec chuckled.

Magnus just rolled his eyes and got in.

“One of my best friends works at St Mary’s,” Magnus said as Alec pulled out of the lot.

“According to the information I got from Simon, Sebastian worked in Ward C,” Alec said.

“Cat is a paediatric nurse,” Magnus explained.

“Catarina Loss?” Alec asked.

“Yes, you know her?”

“Cat volunteers at Out Reach, a homeless shelter. Izzy, Jace and I help out there when we can and cook and serve meals there every Thanksgiving and Christmas.” Alec explained.

Magnus wasn’t surprised to hear that Alec volunteered this time considering what we knew about the man.

“I’m planning on helping out this year myself,” Magnus told him. “Usually if I’m not working, I’m in LA around that time of year visiting my mother, but this year I’ve convinced her to visit me.”

“You and your mum are close, I take it?” Alec asked curiously.

“We are, it was hard when she decided to move, but she always hated the weather in New York, it’s too cold for her, and after my stepdad passed away, she needed a change of scenery. She was born and raised in Indonesia, actually, I was born there too. We moved here when I was 4, and she married my stepdad.”

“I’m sorry about your stepdad,” Alec said honestly.

“Thank you, Alec, it’s been 5 years, but I still miss him.”

“Have you ever been back, to Indonesia?” Alec asked curiously.

“We’ve gone back a few times, the last time was when I was in my teens though. Mum doesn’t have any family left there now, so she hasn’t wanted to go back.”

“My dad’s in LA,” Alec explained.

“He’s with Homeland now isn’t he?” Magnus asked.

“Yes, we’re not close, I haven’t spoken to him in a while.”

When the previous Police Commissioner had retired, everyone knew that the Mayor had his sights on having a Lightwood in the office. What had surprised everyone was that it had been Maryse Lightwood, and not her husband, Robert. When Robert had been passed over for the position of Chief of Department too, he’d accepted a position with Homeland. Magnus had heard the rumours, everyone had about Robert’s wandering eye. Not all was well within the Lightwood marriage.

Alec and Magnus walked into St Mary’s and straight to the information desk.

“Hi, can I help you,” The woman behind the desk chirped.

“I’m Detective Bane, and this is Detective Lightwood, we’re here to see Mrs Margaret Collins, the Director of Nursing,” Magnus said, holding up his badge.

“Oh,” the woman said, looking a little flustered. “I’ll call her.”

The woman picked up the phone and hit a few buttons. A moment later they could hear someone answering on the other end.

“Mrs Collins, I have two detectives here to see you,” She said nervously. The woman nodded and hung up.

“Mrs Collins is on Level 4 South, in the administrative offices, you can take the yellow lift.”

“Thank you,” Both men said as they made their way to the lifts.

As they stepped out, they were greeted by a stern-looking woman dressed in a very smart suit. She reminded Alec of his mother.

“Detectives?” She asked.

“Detective Bane,” Magnus said, offering his hand.

“Detective Lightwood,” Alec said, offering his as well.

“Margaret Collins, right this way please.” She said, turning and taking off toward a group of offices.

Mrs Collins took a seat behind her desk and motioned for the detectives to take a seat.

“What can I do for you today, detectives?” She asked

“We need some information on one of your employees, Mr Sebastian Verlac,” Alec explained.

“I see, can I ask what in relation too?”

“An ongoing investigation,” Alec explained.

“Right,” Mrs Collins said, realising they probably couldn’t say much. “I was discussing Mr Verlac with the Nurse Unit Manager in charge of Ward C just this morning. He’s missed his last 3 shifts, and we have been unable to contact him.”

“What can you tell us about Mr Verlac?” Alec asked.

“He started with us about 2 weeks ago, he came highly recommended. His references from St Paul’s were exemplary,” Mrs Collins explained.

“I didn’t work with him directly, but I can take you to Ward C, Amanda Dean is the Nurse Unit Manager for Ward C, she’d be able to tell you more.”

“Thank you, that would be great,” Magnus smiled at the woman.

Ward C was reasonably quiet when they entered, and Amanda Dean was sitting at the nurses’ station.

“Amanda,” Mrs Collins said as they approached. “This is Detectives Bane and Lightwood, they have a few questions about Sebastian Verlac.”

“Did something happen to Seb?” Amanda asked, concerned.

“We have been trying to get in touch with Mr Verlac as his name has come up in one of our investigations,” Alec explained.

“Detectives, I’ll leave you in Amanda’s capable hands,” Mrs Collins said.

“Thank you, Mrs Collins,” Magnus said.

“So how can I help you?” Amanda asked.

“Sebastian was a fairly new employee?” Magnus asked.

“Yes, he’d only been working here for about 2 weeks. He previously worked at St Paul’s and finding qualified and experienced nurse assistants is really hard, so we jump to hire him. We’ve been worried because he’s missed his last three shifts,” Amanda explained.

“I take it that’s unusual?”

“It does seem very out of character. He was always punctual and always willing to pick up an extra shift.”

“What else can you tell us about him?” Alec asked.

“He’s hard-working, never complains about the tasks he’s assigned, he’s great with the patients.”

“Do you happen to know anything about his personal life?”

“He’d didn’t like to talk about himself all that much, but I got the impression that his family are all overseas, the UK I think.”

“He never mentioned a partner?”

“No, like I said, he never really talked about his personal life.”

“You wouldn’t happen to have a photograph of Sebastian, would you?”

“Only the one from his staff ID,” Amanda said.

“Would we be able to get a copy of that?”

“Sure,” She said. “I can print it or email if you prefer.”

“Email would be great,” Magnus said, handing Amanda his card. “Just to the address on the card, thank you.”

“Mind if I take a look?” Alec asked and ducked behind the nurses’ station to take a look at the picture on the screen.

Alec tried to school his features, this man was not Sebastian Verlac. Well, not the Sebastian Verlac in the DMV database. He looked more like the Sebastian Verlac that was staying at The Sanctuary.

“Did Sebastian have a staff locker?” Magnus asked.

“Yes, it’s in the staff room,” Amanda said standing.

They followed Amanda into the staff room, and she pointed out Sebastian’s locker.

“I don’t suppose you know the combination?” They asked. The locker had a combination lock on it.

“I don’t, but I could get maintenance to break the lock open for you.”

“That would be great, thank you,” Alec said, smiling.

Amanda made her way back to the nurses’ station, leaving Alec and Magnus in the staff room.

“The photo on Sebastian’s ID doesn’t match the Sebastian Verlac in the DMV records,” Alec said.

“That’s sort of what I expected, everything thing about Sebastian Verlac is screaming identity theft,” Magnus added. “We’ll go through everything when we get back to the precinct but the records Simon retrieved from The Sanctuary had The DMV Sebastian Verlac’s social security number.”

A few minutes later, Amanda walked into the staff room with a janitor carrying large bolt cutters. The janitor had the lock off in moments and was on his way quickly.

“All yours Detectives,” Amanda said. “I’ll just be out at the nurses’ desk if you need me.”

Alec pulled out a pair of gloves from his pants pocket, and Magnus looked at him, surprised.

“Do you always carry gloves with you?” Magnus asked.

“Yes, pretty much,” Alec said. “I’ve also got a couple of evidence bags.”

“I bet you were a boy scout,” Magnus joked.

“Nope, I was always too busy playing amateur detective with Izzy and Jace for something like that,” Alec chuckled.

“It must have been fun having siblings.”

“It has its good and bad moments,” Alec said before turning his attention to the locker.

Alec opened the locker carefully, there wasn’t much inside. A change of scrubs, some personal products and that was about it.

“Nothing much here,” Alec said.

“No, but the hairbrush might come on handy,” Magnus said, pointing to it.

Alec slipped an evidence bag out of his other pocket and bagged the brush. “Maybe we’ll be able to get DNA off it.”

Alec and Magnus finished looking through Sebastian’s locker and then made their way to the Nurses’ desk. They left their details with Amanda asking her to get in touch if Sebastian turned up for work.

“We need to go St Paul’s,” Magnus said as they were pulling away from the hospital.

“That will have to wait until tomorrow,” Alec said, looking at the time. “We should get back, get the team together for a briefing before we call it a day.”

Magnus’ phone buzzed in his pocket, and he pulled it out, taking a quick look. “Lydia and Raphael are back.”

Alec made his way to his desk and was relieved and also a little disappointed, not to find an envelope on his keyboard. He had to remind himself that he’d already received one today. Unlocking his bottom drawer, he pulled out a box of chocolate chip cookies he has stashed there. He had to start locking is drawer ever since Jace began working at the precinct. The man thought that Alec was his own personal shopper and would just help himself.

Alec walked into the conference room to find Lydia smirking at Raphael, who had his head on the table and looked a little green.

Lydia beamed at Alec when she saw the box of cookies in his hand.

“Cookies, yes!” She exclaimed happily.

Raphael groaned.

“What did you do to Detective Santiago?” Alec asked.

“It seems Raphael gets car sick,” Lydia laughed.

“Your driving made me car sick,” Raphael said, turning his head to look up at Alec. “How have you been able to survive as her partner for so long?”

“I don’t usually let her drive,” Alec chuckled. “Oh and I chew mint gum.”

“Have you killed my partner?” Magnus chuckled as he noticed the state Raphael was in on entering the conference room.

“He’s just a little car sick,” Lydia said. She snatched the box of cookies from Alec and ripped it open, grabbing a cookie and shoving it towards Raphael. “Have a cookie, you’ll feel better.”

“Please tell me those are Arnott’s Choc chip,” Izzy said, walking into the room closely followed by Simon.

“Of course,” Alec laughed, taking a seat.

Magnus took his seat beside Alec. “How good can a boxed cookie be?” He asked.

Alec grabbed the box off Lydia ignoring the way she pouted and offered a cookie to Magnus. “Try one,” Alec said.

Magnus pulled a cookie out of the box and took a tentative bite. When the chocolatey goodness hit his tongue, he couldn’t help the surprise on his face. He took another bite, this time a much bigger one.

“So?” Alec said, smiling.

“These are delicious,” Magnus said honestly.

“It’s because they have 30 % more chocolate chips than the regular brands,” Izzy explained, grabbing a cookie for herself.

Everyone helped themselves to cookies, and they started the meeting.

“Izzy, you’re up first,” Magnus said.

“Sebastian’s room was almost spotless,” Izzy explained. “There were no personal papers, photos etc. at all, some clean clothes, a couple of used paperbacks and that was about it. I was able to pull some hair fibres from carpet near the bed which I’ve sent off the CSU, and I also bagged his toothbrush and sent that off too.”

Magnus nodded to Simon, and he started his report.

“There wasn’t much in the records at The Sanctuary. The Social security number they had on file was the same as the Sebastian Verlac listed with the DMV. There was no emergency contact, and the address listed as his previous residence was actually a Florist who’d never heard of Sebastian Verlac.” Simon said, reading over his notes.

“Alec and I went to the ME’s this morning,” Magnus started. “As suspected, the victim all bleed out from their neck wounds. The ME found bruising to the victim’s chests, seems our perp sat on their chests and watched them bleed out. All other trauma to the bodies was don’t post mortem.”

The room because really quiet as the other took in that information. It was apparent they were looking for a cold-blooded murder.

“The victims had a puncture wound to the neck, an injection site, the trace has been sent to the lab for analysis.”

“The ME thinks the perp is left-handed,” Alec added due to the direction of the neck wound and the carvings were done with a straight blade, but he seems to think it was some sort of leatherworking tool. We’re going to have to get someone from CSU to try to work out what exactly.”

“Also the ME said there were no hesitation marks, so he doesn’t think this was the perps first time with any of this,” Magnus said.

“We have already searched for local crimes, but we need to cast a wider net. Simon I’d like you to search the entire country for anything with the slightest similar MO.”

“We also went to the apartment listed on Sebastian’s DMV record. The apartment was spotless, and we talked to the neighbour. Sebastian told her he was going away for 3 months on an extended vacation to Europe with his boyfriend. He left about 3 weeks ago. We don’t have much on the boyfriend. She thinks his name was John. Magnus did find a photo on his fridge.”

Magnus pulled up the photo on his computer and turned it around so the others could take a look.

“Not the best pic,” Lydia said.

“The guy on the right looks like the Sebastian from the DMV record,” Izzy said looking at the picture curiously.

“It’s hard to tell because of the angle, and the photo we have of Sanctuary Sebastian isn’t the best but could he be the boyfriend?” Raphael said, taking in the photo.

“We have a better photo of Sanctuary Sebastian,” Magnus said pulling up the pic Amanda had emailed them.

“I think Raphael is right, he’s blond in his work ID pic, but I think that’s definitely him,” Izzy said, leaning in closer. “Si do you think the face recognition software we have could help to check if they are a match?”

“Our software no, but I have a friend in the FBI. He owes me a few favours,” Simon said his mind running with possibilities.

“I’ve checked with Customs and Border Protection, there is no record of Sebastian Verlac leaving the country. He does have a passport, but he has not left the US in over 5 years,” Simon added. “If he left the country, he didn’t do it legally.”

“We didn’t find much out at St Mary’s. Sebastian has missed his last 3 shifts,” Alec explained. “He hasn’t been there all that long, and it seems he wasn’t much of a talker. We did find a hairbrush in his staff locker which we’ll send to CSU.”

“We’ll have to get out to St Paul’s tomorrow. He worked there for 2 years. Hopefully, we’ll be able to found more on him there,” Alec added.

“Professor Greene at Penn wasn’t able to read the rune himself, but he has seen them before, and he had a colleague in the UK that he is sure can. Professor Nottingham works at Oxford. I’ve emailed the professor asking for his help, so hopefully, he’ll get back to us soon,” Raphael explained.

“Does anyone have anything else?” Magnus asked.

“We heard about the press conference,” Lydia started to say, and Alec felt his cheeks heat. There was no getting anything past her.

“The commissioner wanted you off the case, didn’t she?” Lydia asked. “That was what the Captain wanted this morning.”

“Yes,” Alec said, knowing there was no use denying it.

“Why didn’t you just tell us?” Izzy asked, confused.

“I chose not to,” Magnus pipped up. “Captain has no intention of removing Alec from the case, so that’s all that needs to be said on the matter.”

“I wish I could say I can’t believe she’d do that, but I’d be lying,” Izzy said sadly.

“Listen, I’m on this case. I’m not going to be pushed around just because my mother can’t deal with my sexuality,” Alec said.

“I don’t understand why she would think it would come up?” Raphael said.

“My mother isn’t very rational at times,” Izzy said, shaking her head.

“It’s late, our shifts are officially over, go home everyone,” Magnus said. “Hopefully CSU will have some results for us tomorrow so expect a busy day.”

Everyone said their goodbyes and filed out reasonably quickly, leaving Alec and Magnus alone in the conference room.

Alec powered down his laptop and unplugged it, sliding it into his briefcase along with his case file. He couldn’t help but smile as he watched Magnus doing the same.

“I don’t know about you, but I am looking forward to a long soak when I get home tonight,” Magnus said, rolling his neck and shoulders.

“I can’t even remember the last time I had a bath,” Alec said honestly. “The one in my apartment is tiny.”

“Most are, they aren’t made for grown adults,” Magnus said. “Thankfully I have an incredible tub which I make good use of.”

“I’m looking forward to the leftover pasta I have in my fridge,” Alec said, smiling.

“Lucky you, I think I’ll have to order something in,” Magnus said. “I’m sure all I have in the loft is cat food.”

“I love to cook, so I try to keep the fridge stocked,” Alec explained. “Plus Izzy and Jace are forever turning up just in time for dinner suspiciously.”

Magnus laughed. “Of course they do, they know their big brother is a soft touch and will feed them.”

Alec chuckled. “I won’t even bother to deny it.”

They stepped out of the conference room, and Alec locked the door.

“I’ll catch you tomorrow, Alec, have a great night,” Magnus said, smiling at the man beside him.

“You too Magnus, be safe,” Alec said, beaming at him.

Alec watched as Magnus made his way to the stairs, no doubt, going up to his office to collect the rest of his things.

Alec made his way to his desk and opened the top drawer. Opening his briefcase, he collected all the notes from the drawer and slipped them inside. He couldn’t help but smile as he thought about the notes, and he wondered what he’d find on his keyboard tomorrow.


	3. Chapter 3

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec and Magnus continue to investigate The Sanctuary case and find themselves spending more and more time together.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All,
> 
> Thank you all for the kinds words and all the kudos, they mean so much to me, they honestly do. Also thank you all for hanging in there with me, it's been a little harder to get chapters out but finally done with Chapter 3 so I hope you enjoy it.
> 
> My world is starting to return to normal, we've gone from 700 covid cases a day to 9 days with zero cases, Woo Hoo!. So we're out of strict lockdown and restrictions are being lifted, its been months of isolation but it was worth it. I hope that things are improving in your part of the world too. Hope you are all safe and well!
> 
> Hugs to you all!
> 
> PS: I've been using Tiger Balm for years to help with headaches and migraines. Rubbing a little at your temples and the soft juncture at the back of your head, between your head and your neck (just in your hairline usually), can really help. But please don't use the strong formula, regular Tiger Balm white works best. (This note will make more sense after you read the chapter).

Magnus couldn’t help but feel a little disappointed when he walked into the gym the next morning at 6.30 am to find it empty. A large part of him was hoping to find a shirtless Alec once again this morning. Magnus worked out for about an hour before taking a quick shower and making his way to the conference room.

Inside, he was surprised to find Alec, sitting at the table, head down, he looked asleep, and Magnus watched for a moment as his eyelashes fluttered. Even his eyelashes were beautiful, he thought to himself.

“I’m not asleep,” Alec said quietly, almost making Magnus jump.

“Are you OK?” Magnus asked.

“I woke you with a slight headache, and I think it has decided to turn into a migraine,” Alec said his eyes still closed.

“Oh,” Magnus said, moving into action. He turned off the lights in the conference room. “I’ll be right back,” Magnus said, rushing off towards the staffroom where he grabbed a couple of bottles of water.

When he returned, Alec was sitting up, but his eyes were still closed.

Magnus rustled around in his briefcase for a moment, before finding what he needed.

“Right,” He said, moving towards Alec.

Alec opened his eyes and seemed relieved that the lights were off.

“Here,” Magnus said, holding out the bottle of water and a blister pack of tablets. “They are just paracetamol,” He said.

Alec took the water and pills gratefully.

“It will help with the lights off, and the paracetamol will take the edge off, but my real secret weapon is this,” Magnus held up a small pot.

“Tiger balm?” Alec asked, confused.

“Do you trust me?” Magnus asked.

Alec’s eyes widened really looked at the man in front of him. “I trust you.”

Magnus sat beside Alec and turned Alec towards him.

“My mother used to suffer from tension headaches all the time and left unchecked they would always turn into full-blown migraines. Hydrating, paracetamol and a small amount of tiger balm rubbed into her temples always did the trick.”

Magnus popped the lid off the little pot and swiped a couple of fingers through the balm inside. As he leaned forward, Alec startled before relaxing into Magnus’ gentle touch.

Alec couldn’t help his eyes fluttering closed as Magnus’ fingers rubbed at his temples and the back of his neck. It felt incredible, and he felt his cheeks warm as a little moan escaped his lips. Alec shifted in his seat, scooting forward. He could feel Magnus’ fingers gently rubbing the balm into his temples, the thumbs of his hands gently resting against his jaw. Alec felt his body react to being so close to Magnus. Even with the pungent smell of the balm, Alec would still smell the beautiful man in front of him. Not able to help himself, he took a deep breath, taking him in, sandalwood and spice, and oh so masculine. 

Magnus couldn’t help but study Alec’s face as he rubbed the balm into his temples, he knew he should have let Alec do it himself, but he just couldn’t resist the chance to touch him. When Alec moaned, Magnus felt all the blood in his body head south, and he felt himself harden painfully in his pants. Dear god, Magnus thought, if this is what an innocent moan did to him, what would kissing this man do. They were so close all of a sudden, and it took everything in Magnus to not lean forward a take the man’s lips with his own.

Alec missed the feel of Magnus’ fingers the instant they were gone from his temples, and he opened his eyes to find Magnus studying him closely. Alec was struck with how incredibly beautiful the man before him was, not for the first time and the urge to lean forward and see if his lips were as soft as they looked filled him with yearning.

They both seemed to be frozen in the moment, eyes locked, both men wanted to make the first move and both equally terrified to do so. Thankfully or regretfully, Alec wasn’t sure which, the moment was shatters as Raphael and Simon came into the room, turning on the lights, looking at the men in confusion.

Raphael gave Magnus a quizzical look, and Magnus snapped out of the spell that seemed to have taken hold the moment he’d touched Alec.

“Can you turn the light off please,” Magnus said. “Detective Lightwood has a migraine brewing.”

Alec shifted in his seat, feeling embarrassment warm his cheeks again.

“Ahh, that sucks,” Simon said, flicking off the lights.

“Actually, it’s starting to clear, Thank you, Magnus,” Alec said softly.

Magnus felt his own cheeks warm. He popped the lid back in the tiger balm and turned in his seat. Raphael and Simon were still looking at them. They could hear laughter and a moment later Lydia and Izzy walked in, carrying coffees.

“Why are you all sitting in the dark?” Izzy asked.

“Headache,” Alec said, finding his voice.

“This might help,” Lydia said, sliding a coffee toward Alec.

“Are you hydrating?” Izzy asked, concerned.

“He is, and I’ve given him some paracetamol,” Magnus explained.

“Is that menthol? Mint?” Izzy asked.

“Tiger balm,” Magnus smiled. “I’ll be back,” Magnus said, making a hasty retreat from the conference room. Magnus told himself it was because he needed to wash his hands, but that only a half-truth. He needed to get himself under control, he was so close to kissing Alec just now, and the look on Alec’s face told him that he wasn’t the only one with growing feelings. Just the thought made Magnus’ heart flutter with hope and longing.

Magnus dropped back into his seat and was greeted with one of Alec’s incredible smiles.

“Thank you,” Alec said.

“Anytime, Alexander,” Magnus said. He noticed Alec’s eyes flash and he realised for the first time he’d used his full name.

Magnus picked up his coffee and took a long sip, ignoring the way it burnt the inside of his mouth. So much for getting himself under control, he was acting like a lovesick teen.

“So nothing new overnight,” Alec said, turning to the group. “Though we do have a nice little pile of tips and messages that have been called into the precinct.”

Magnus slid the pile across the table to Simon and Izzy, who both groaned. Being the juniors of the group, they knew it would be their job to follow up on each and every call.

“Are you feeling up to heading out to St Paul’s this morning?” Magnus asked Alec.

“My heads actually starting to clear,” Alec smiled at Magnus.

“Lydia and I will go back to the ME, he should have finished up the rest of the autopsies by now,” Raphael said.

“Great,’ Magnus said. “With any luck, we’ll get some results back from CSU this afternoon.”

“I’m driving,” Raphael said, snatching the keys out of Lydia’s hand. “You’re a menace.”

Lydia was still laughing as they walked out of the conference room.

“Not sure it’s such a great idea pairing those two together,” Alec said amused.

“Honestly, I’m surprised by the comfortable banter between them,” Magnus explained. “Raphael usual doesn’t like many people.”

“Would you mind driving?” Alec asked as they made their way out to the car park.

“I planned too,” Magnus said, smiling and holding up the keys. Magnus had snagged the keys to his car, which meant that Raphael and Lydia were driving around in the Junker.

It took them a little longer to get to St Paul's than they would have liked, all thanks to road works and traffic, but by the time they arrived, Alec was feeling much better.

Walking into the hospital, they made their way to the information desk.

“Detective’s Lightwood and Bane,” Alec said to the man behind the desk, holding out his credentials. “We’d like to see Mrs Poppy Gomez, the director of nursing.”

The man took a long look at his badge and ID before lifting the phone. “Mrs Gomez, I have two NYPD detectives here to see you,” he said into the phone.

He listened for a moment, “Yes, will do.” He said, hanging up.

“She’ll be here in a moment,” He explained.

Alec and Magnus stood to the side as there seemed to be a small line forming behind them for the Information desk and waited. After a few moments, they saw a small woman with a stern expression on her face approach.

“Detectives?” She asked.

“Mrs Gomez?” Magnus queried.

“Yes, but please its Poppy, follow me, lets chat in my office.”

They followed Poppy down a corridor and past a few offices until they came to an empty office and she ducked inside.

Poppy took a seat behind her desk and motioned for the men make themselves comfortable in the guest chairs.

“What can I do for you today Detectives?” She asked, getting down to business.

“We were hoping to talk to you about one of your ex-employees, Mr Sebastian Verlac.”

“Sebastian, sure, what do you need to know?”

“He worked here for 2 years?”

“Yes and we were stunned when he told us he was leaving,” She said.

“Did he give a reason?”

“Not exactly, but the rumour was he was getting married, and his husband to be came from money, so Sebastian wouldn’t need to work.”

“What type of employee was he?”

“Honestly, one of the best, never a complaint, the staff and patients loved him, so it was a shock that he’d just up and quit like that.”

“We were told that his boyfriend was a doctor, did he meet him here?”

Poppy thought for a moment. “If he was a doctor, he wasn’t one of ours,” Poppy said. “Gossip travels very fast in this sort of setting.”

“Is there anyone here that we could talk to about Sebastian who might know a little more about his personal life?”

“You could try the staff in Ward 2A, that’s where he worked,” Poppy said. “I can take you up if you like.”

“That would be great,” Magnus said, smiling.

“Before we do that, would you happen to have his ID photo still on file?” Alec asked.

“Of course,” Poppy said. “We don’t remove that sort of details from our system. Staff turnaround is high in this sort of field, and we have staff that come and go and return often.”

Poppy turned to her computer and pulled up Sebastian’s file. “Would you be able to email it to us?” Alec asked, handing her his card.

“Of course,” Poppy said as she typed away.

Magnus and Alec both looked at the file on the screen. The details and picture matched Sebastian Verlac’s DMV records.

Poppy showed them up to Ward 2A, but unfortunately, none of the nurses there knew much else about Sebastian. He was a relatively private guy, but he’d met his boyfriend a few months ago, and after a whirlwind romance he’d quit, so they could travel around Europe together. No one had met the man.

“So what do we know,” Magnus said as they settled back into the conference room.

“The Sebastian Verlac that was working at St Paul's matches the DMV records. A few months ago he met a man, and it obviously gets serious fast.” Alec said, pinning the new picture to their murder board. Under it, he wrote Verlac. Under the ID picture from St Mary’s, he wrote Seb2.

“3 weeks ago, Verlac quits his job and tells his co-workers and his neighbour that he’s going to be travelling around Europe with his boyfriend,” Alec added.

“This is about the same time, Seb2,” Magnus stated going with Alec’s naming of the two men, “Moved into The Sanctuary and a week later he starts work at St Mary’s.”

“Are we seriously thinking that Seb2 planned all this, spent months getting to know Verlac, dating him, just to steal his identity so that he could move into The Sanctuary and kill six people?” Magnus asked.

“Once you eliminate the impossible, whatever remains, no matter how improbable, must be the truth,” Alec said.

“Did you just quote Sir Arthur Conan Doyle to me?” Magnus asked, amused.

“I did,” Alec beamed at him.

“So when you told me you played amateur detective with your siblings, were you Sherlock Holmes weren’t you?” Magnus just had to ask.

“Maybe,” Alec laughed blushing.

“Isabelle was definitely Watson, so who was Jace? Sure not Moriarty.”

Alec laughed loudly. “He was Mrs Hudson.”

Magnus burst into laughter. “Please tell me you had the hat and have pictures.”

“I see you’re feeling better,” Izzy said as she walked into the conference room, closely followed by Simon.

“I am,” Alec smiled at his sister.

“Alec was just telling about your amateur detective days,” Magnus said, smiling at her.

“We had so much fun, Alec was Sherlock, I was Dr Watson, and we made Jace, wait on us hand and foot because he was the housekeeper,” She chuckled.

“Sounds like fun,” Simon said, smiling at Izzy fondly.

“Lydia and Raphael are back, so we can have a quick briefing, before lunch,” Magnus said.

Lydia and Raphael filed in a moment later, and they were just about to start their briefing when Captain Garroway walked into the conference room, closely followed by Lieutenant Starkweather.

“Don’t mind us,” Captain Garroway said, pulling up a seat at the far end of the conference table. “Please continue.”

“Anything from the tips and calls to the precinct?” Magnus asked Simon and Isabelle.

“Besides a lot of crazies, not really,” Simon said, his eyes glancing towards the Captain who was looking at him.

“I had one guy who claims to be a psychic, and he offered his services,” Isabelle said, rolling her eyes.

“You politely declined?” Alec asked.

“I just explained to him that if he really was psychic, then he’d know why I was hanging up on him,” Izzy said amusement in her voice.

“I’ve done the usual social media search and came up with nothing,” Simon added. “Which in its self is strange for someone in their late 20’s. I can’t find a Facebook, Instagram or Twitter account.

“Anything new from the ME?” Alec asked Lydia and Raphael.

“Each victim was killed in the same way, each had a puncture wound to the neck. Practically no trace evidence on the bodies,” Raphael said, reading off his notes.

“CSU has someone going in there this afternoon to try to match the tool used to carve the runes. The ME thinks it most likely was the same tool that slit their necks and caused the stab wounds, so it’s sharp and dangerous.” Lydia added.

“We still don’t have anything back from the lab,” Izzy said. “I’ve asked for a rush, but the science takes time, and we don’t want mistakes.”

“We weren’t able to find out much more about Sebastian Verlac, but Alec and I have a working theory,” Magnus explained.

Alec stood and stepped up to the murder board.

“We’re calling DMV Sebastian Verlac, Verlac going forward,” Alec explained. “Verlac started dating someone a few months ago, we’re going with the name John as per his neighbour’s statement. 3 weeks ago, he quit his job and told everyone he was leaving to travel around Europe with his boyfriend.”

“Seb2, our Sanctuary Sebastian Verlac, arrived at The Sanctuary around this time, claiming to be Sebastian Verlac, and two weeks later he started work at St Mary’s,” Magnus added.

“Our working theory is that Seb2, was Verlac’s mystery boyfriend John, he targeted Verlac and took over his identity.”

“So if Seb2 is the imposter, where’s the real Sebastian Verlac?” Simon asked.

“Good question,” Magnus said. “Sadly, he doesn’t have any family listed, and we can’t seem to be able to track down any friends. We’re going to try for a warrant for Verlac’s apartment and for his phone and bank records.”

“We’re also going to put BOLO’s out for Verlac and Seb2,” Alec said.

“If Seb2 is our killer and he was the Verlac’s boyfriend just to steal his identity, it’s more than likely that Verlac is dead,” Raphael said stating the obvious.

“True, dead or not, we need to find him,” Magnus said.

Alec was standing at the murders boards, taking it all in when a thought popped into his head.

“If Seb2 is our killer,” Alec said, looking at the small group in the room. “I understand the identity theft. It got him into The Sanctuary, but why take a job at St Mary’s?”

Magnus looked at Alec, taking in his question. If Seb2’s end game was to kill everyone at The Sanctuary, there was no need to get a job, unless of course that job somehow aided him in his mission.

“He needed something that only working at a hospital could get him,” Magnus said.

“Exactly,” Alec smiled at him. “We just need to find out what that something was.”

Magnus dismissed everyone, breaking for lunch. Everyone filed out of the room fairly quickly, except for their Captain and Lieutenant.

“You have a lot going on, if you need extra manpower let the Lieutenant here know,” Luke said.

“We will, Sir,” Alec said.

“I just want you to know I’ve dealt with The Commissioner’s office.”

“Thank you,” Alec said quietly.

“Go talk to Fell, ask him for the warrant and subpoenas you need,” Luke added.

“Thank you, Sir, will do.”

“Great,” Luke said, standing. “Any developments I want to hear about them immediately.”

“Of course, Sir,” Alec and Magnus said in unison.

Luke and Hodge left the office, leaving Alec and Magnus alone.

“Judge Fell is a friend,” Magnus said. “We can go talk to him after lunch if you like?”

“Sure, sounds good,” Alec smiled at Magnus. It didn’t seem odd to either man that they’d traded partners of sorts, and no one else in the team questioned the change either.

Magnus took off for his office, and Alec made his way to his desk, dropping into his chair, which groaned under his weight.

Alec remembered he needed to talk to Simon, but he didn’t want to go upstairs and catch him with his sister again. He still wasn’t too sure how he felt about it all, and he really hadn’t had a chance to talk to Isabelle. So instead, Alec pulled out his phone and sent Simon a quick text message telling him he’s like to see him when he had a moment.

Alec hadn’t even had a chance to decide if he wanted lunch or not when he noticed Simon making his way over.

“What can I do for you, Detective?” Simon asked nervously.

“You didn’t need to rush down here, Officer,” Alec said. “I have a little problem,” Alec started to say.

“Look if this is about yesterday . . .” Simon started talking, but Alec stopped him.

“Simon, whatever is going on between you and my sister, is your business. Isabelle is a big girl and can take care of herself, and I know that I can trust you not to hurt her, can’t I?” Alec asked.

“Of course,” Simon said without hesitation.

“Great, because that’s not what I wanted to talk to you about,” Alec held back a smirk as Simon visibly relaxed in front of him.

“As you know, supplies are in short demand around here, so I tend to buy my own.” Alec started to explain. “Someone’s been helping themselves to my things, even though I have most of them locked in my bottom drawer.” What Alec was telling Simon wasn’t exactly a lie, he did buy his own supplies, and they tended to disappear from his desk, but it hadn’t bothered him.

“Well that’s your first mistake,” Simon said. “You do know that the locks to those drawers are so worn out that a paperclip could open them?”

“Seriously?” Alec said, not really surprised.

“I can change the lock for you if you like,” Simon added.

“That would be great, I’d appreciate it, but I also want to find out who’s doing it,” Alec explained.

“You know the precinct has security cameras, right?”

“I know that, but I don’t want to go to the Serge or Lieutenant to ask for permission to see the security footage just because someone is stealing my pens.”

“Yeah, I can understand that,” Simon said, thinking. “You need a nanny cam,” he said after a moment.

“A what?”

“Nanny Cam, a camera you can put on your desk that’s disguised as something else, loads of parents use them to keep an eye on the nanny or babysitter etc.”

“Where could I get something like this?”

“Honestly, everywhere, even toy stores sell them these days,” Simon explained. “You know that little phone store down the street, they have them.”

“Are they easy to use?”

“Very, the camera’s a motion-activated and will start to record when they sense motion. The recordings can be saved onto either an SD card or depending on the model you buy, directly uploaded to a cloud account, where you can access it from your phone, tablet or computer.”

“Sounds perfect,” Alec smiled at the man. “Thanks, Simon.”

“Anytime, Alec,” Simon smiled back at the man. “I better get back to work.”

“Of course, Oh and Simon, can we keep this between us?”

“No problems, if you need any help setting it up, let me know.”

“Thanks, will do.”

Instead of grabbing lunch, Alec left the precinct and made his way down to the phone store. He was amazed at all the different sorts of cameras and devices they had in stock. He ended up buying a camera that looked like a Magic 8 ball that uploaded its footage to a cloud account, and he could view it using straightforward software he could install on his phone.

On the way back to the precinct, Alec picked himself up a coffee and a muffin and was just about to make his way into the conference room when he noticed the envelope on his desk. It hadn’t been there when they had broken for lunch. Whoever was leaving the envelopes had placed it there while he’d been out.

Alec slumped down in his chair and picked up the envelope, opening it to pull out the note inside.

_‘You give me the kind of feelings, people write novels about.’_

Alec felt his heart flutter, and then his cheeks burn. What the hell was wrong with him? Not only was he crushing on Magnus Bane but he was also crushing on a complete stranger who was leaving notes for him on his desk. He slipped the note back into its envelope and into his drawer.

Alec was so wrapped up in these thoughts that he didn’t hear Magnus approach.

“All set?” Magnus asked startling Alec.

Alec jumped in his seat, there was a creak and a crack, and a moment later, he found himself on the floor of the precinct, looking up at a very concerned Magnus Bane.

“Are you OK?” Magnus asked, concerned.

Alec blinked up at Magnus, his cheeks starting to burn. But despite his embarrassment, the only thing his mind could focus on was how beautiful Magnus’ eyes were. It was only when Magnus asked Alec if he was OK for a second time that Alec snapped out of his thoughts.

“Sorry, I’m fine, just a little stunned. Seems my chair just tried to kill me.” Alec laughed nervously.

“So it seems,” Magnus said amused.

Magnus held out a hand to help Alec up, and the moment their fingers touched a little spark of electricity passed between the men. Magnus giggled at the tingle on his fingers before wrapping his hand around Alec’s.

Alec loved the feel of Magnus’ hand in his own, it was warm and soft, and Alec couldn’t help but wonder what Magnus’ hands would feel like travelling over his body.

“Are you hurt?” Magnus asked as Alec got to his feet and reluctantly let go of Magnus’ hand.

“Only my pride.”

“Luckily bruised pride heals quickly,” Magnus chuckled.

Alec looked at his chair, picking up the back section. “Maybe I can put it back together?”

“You need a new chair,” Magnus said, shaking his head.

“This one is older than me I think,” Alec said. “I’ve been asking Jace for a new one for months.”

Magnus picked up Alec’s desk phone and dialled.

“What?” A voice said, annoyed.

“Do you always answer the phone like that?” Magnus growled.

“Umm Alec?” Jace asked confused

“No this is Detective Magnus Bane.”

“I’m so sorry, sir,” Jace said quickly.

“You never answered my question,” Magnus snapped.

“Only when it’s Alec,” Jace said honestly.

“I see and why is that?”

“Because he’s my brother,” Jace said nervously.

“I see,” Magnus said. “He is also a Detective in the NYPD, Head detective of this precinct and has one of the highest clearance rates in the city, so maybe you should reconsider your phone manner.”

“Of course Detective,” Jace apologised.

“I need you to order Detective Lightwood’s a new chair immediately.”

“I don’t have extra funds in the budget for new chairs.”

“His current chair is sitting in pieces on the precinct floor, we’re lucky he didn’t injure himself. Where do you expect him to sit?” Magnus said, smirking at Alec.

“I’ll have to get approval from the Captain,” Jace said after a moment.

“You do that,” Magnus said sternly. “I expect to see a new chair at his desk by this time tomorrow.”

“Yes, Detective Bane.”

Magnus hung up the phone, and Alec looked at him in awe.

“That was fun,” Magnus chuckled.

“You didn’t have to do that,” Alec said, beaming at the man.

“You should have a decent chair, Alexander.”

“Thank you, Magnus,” Alec said, trying to stop himself from blushing again.

“We should get going,” Magnus said after a moment. “I’ve sent a text to Ragnor, telling him to expect us.”

They walked out of the precinct together and got into Magnus’ car.

“You said Judge Fell is a friend?” Alec asked as they pulled out of the car park.

“We’ve known each other since we were kids,” Magnus explained. “Ragnor, Cat, Raphael and I all lived in the same neighbourhood growing up. They are my best friends, we’re like family.”

“That’s awesome,” Alec smiled. “We never had many kids in our neighbourhood growing up, but I had my siblings.”

It didn’t take them too long to arrive at the courthouse, and soon they were making their way into Judge Fell’s offices. Sitting behind the desk in the outer office was a tiny elderly woman, typing away furiously. She looked up and beamed at them.

“He’s expecting you, Magnus,” She said, smiling at Magnus sweetly.

“Thank you, Victoria,” Magnus smiled back. “This is Detective Lightwood.”

Victoria smiled at Alec, “Oh, I know,” She said, winking at Alec.

Alec felt his cheeks warm under the woman’s gaze.

“So when are you leaving Marty and running away with me,” Magnus said smirking.

“Seriously Magnus, you’d never be able to handle me,” She laughed, turning back to her computer.

“So true,” Magnus chuckled and made his way towards Ragnor’s office.

Ragnor was on the phone when they entered, and he motioned for them to take a seat.

“I’ll have to get back to you,” He said into the phone. “Talk soon.”

Ragnor hung up and looked from Magnus to Alec and back to Magnus.

“So I see Raphael has finally gotten rid of you,” He said with a stern face. “Though I can’t imagine what Detective Lightwood ever did to deserve to be partnered with the likes of you. My condolences Detective Lightwood.”

“I love you too, Cabbage,” Magnus laughed.

“Seriously, Magnus, that nickname is getting a little old,” Ragnor rolled his eyes.

“Not to me it isn’t,” Magnus said smirking.

“So what do you need from me?” Ragnor said, getting down to business.

“We’re working The Sanctuary case,” Alec explained.

“So I’ve heard,” the amusement on Ragnor’s face fading. “Jim was a good man.”

“We have a suspect of sorts,” Magnus explained. “We need a warrant and a couple of subpoenas.”

Alec and Magnus went on to explain the case and their theory concerning Sebastian Verlac, and thankfully Ragnor agreed they had enough to authorise the documents.

“If there is anything else you need, come to me first,” Ragnor said. “You need to catch this bastard Magnus.”

“We will,” Magnus said determinedly.

The men said their goodbyes and were soon on their way back to the precinct documents in hand.

“What’s with the nickname?” Alec just had to ask.

Magnus laughed, throwing his head back and Alec momentarily got so distracted watching the man that they almost veered into the opposite lane of traffic.

“Ragnor is pasty white, always has been,” Magnus explained.

“We can’t all have flawless golden sun-kissed skin,” Alec said interrupting him not really thinking about his words

Magnus looked at Alec in surprise at the compliment. Alec’s cheeks were turning a pale pink.

“Alec, you have an incredible porcelain complexion,” Magnus said honestly, watching Alec’s cheeks turn from pink to red. “Ragnor, on the other hand, is pasty white, verging on ill and always tended to look a little green, hence the nickname cabbage.”

Alec was glad that he had to concentrate on the road, because he knew that at that moment, if he made eye contact with Magnus, Magnus would see that he was crushing on him hard.

After a moment, Magnus added, “He hates the nickname which is why I still use it,” he laughed.

On their return to the precinct, Alec went straight into the conference room to update their files while Magnus went to the Captain’s office to update him on their warrant and subpoenas.

By the time Magnus made his way into the conference room, the whole teams were in there chatting away, except for Alec, who was busy typing up notes.

“Right,” Magnus shouted to get everyone’s attention. “Do we have anything new from CSU?”

“Nothing yet,” Izzy said, slightly annoyed. She’s been pushing them, but she didn’t want to push too hard.

“It’s getting late,” Alec said, finally looking up from his computer. “We should call it a day and pick up tomorrow morning early.”

“Sounds good to me,” Lydia said. “I have dinner with my man tonight.”

“And how is the Assistant DA?” Magnus asked.

“Wonderful as always,” Lydia said blushing. Lydia had been dating Assistant DA John Monteverde for almost a year.

“I’m certainly not going to complain about calling it a day,” Izzy said, shutting down her computer.

“8 am start tomorrow,” Magnus said, watching Alec nod in agreement. “If you want a coffee let me know before you head out.”

“I have court tomorrow,” Lydia said, pulling out her phone. “I probably won’t be back until late afternoon.”

“The Williams’ trial?” Alec asked.

“One in the same,” Lydia said, turning serious. “Finally.”

Lydia had been the primary on a home invasion case gone wrong. The homeowners Mr and Mrs Roirdan had been killed by one of their neighbours Paul Williams when he’d broken into their house thinking they were away. Williams had fled, but thankfully he’d been caught in Miami, and he was finally coming up for trial, it had been almost 6 months.

As everyone filed out of the conference room, they left their coffee orders with Magnus, wishing each other a good night.

“I can grab the coffees in the morning if you like?” Alec said as he slid his laptop into his briefcase.

“It’s my shout this time,” Magnus said, smiling at Alec.

Alec was all packed up but lingered for a moment as Magnus finished up.

“Gym in the morning?” Alec asked.

“After all the pastries I’ve eaten lately, definitely,” Magnus smiled at him.

“Great,” Alec smiled widely.

They walked out of the room together, and Alec locked up.

“Have a wonderful evening Alec,” Magnus said.

“You too, Magnus.”

Alec watched Magnus turn and head for the stairs, obviously heading for his office. Alec made his way over to his own desk. He frowned when he realised he didn’t have a chair, not that he planned to do any more work this evening.

He suddenly remembered the camera sitting in his desk drawer and looked around, there were still quite a few officers around, so he decided to get in even earlier tomorrow morning to set it up before he went to the gym.

Magnus couldn’t sleep, his mind replaying all his interactions with Alec during the day. The more time he spent with the man, the more he craved his company, and he realised his feelings weren’t merely a crush anymore. He thought of the notes he’d been leaving and weighed up his options. He could stop and let his friendship with Alec play itself out. He could tell Alec the notes were from him and hope Alec would realise they were sent with the best intentions. Or he could continue to send notes, he just wasn’t sure which option was the best course of action.

Magnus turned and looked at the time, it was 4 am. He’d only slept for a few hours. Scowling, he got out of bed and made his way into the bathroom. He considered taking a bath but instead he jumped into the shower, it was while he was washing his hair that he came up with an idea, an answer to the questions that had kept him up.

Jumping out of the shower, Magnus dried himself quickly and wrapped himself in his favourite robe. Magnus made his way to his small desk, pulled out his stationary and began to write. 

When Alec walked into the precinct the next working, it was only 5.45 am, but he was a man on a mission. He took the nanny cam out of his desk drawer and opened the packaging. Reading over the instructions, it all seemed pretty straight forward, and in less than 20 minutes, the cam was set up, and he was downloading the app to his phone. He tested the camera a couple of times, turning it to take in his desk and keyboard and once he was happy, he made his way into the gym.

Magnus was already on a treadmill when Alec entered. “Early start?” Alec asked, dropping his towel and taking the treadmill next to him.

“Just got here actually,” Magnus smiled at the beautiful man.

Alec pulled out his earbuds and offered one to Magnus who accepted happily. Over the next hour, the two men worked out together, not really talking, but enjoying their time together none the less.

“Do you need a hand getting the coffees?” Alec asked as Magnus stepped out of the change room. Alec had showered and dressed in under 10 minutes, Magnus had been in there for almost 30. Not that Alec was complaining. Magnus had gone for light makeup today, gold around his beautiful eyes and a faint pink tinge to his lips and his hair was perfectly styled.

“I think I can handle it,” Magnus said, smiling.

20 minutes later, Magnus was back in the precinct and making his way to the conference room. He frowned as he passed Alec’s desk and noticed that he didn’t have a chair. He’d give Jace until this afternoon, and if one didn’t turn up, he was going to give him a little visit.

Magnus was just about to step into the conference room when he heard Simon talking to Alec.

“Told you the nanny cam would be easy to set up,” Simon said to Alec.

“It took me about 20 minutes,” Alec explained. “Thanks for the idea Si.”

“No problems,” Simon said.

The moment Magnus walked into the room, both men stopped talking.

“Coffees are here,” Magnus said happily while his mind tried to reconcile what he’d just heard.

Alec had set up a nanny cam on his desk, and Magnus knew it had to be so he could catch whoever was leaving the notes. This was definitely going to complicate things, Magnus wasn’t ready for Alec to find out who was leaving the notes.

After Izzy and Raphael joined them in the conference room, they started to plan their day. Even though they were all assigned to the Sanctuary case, they all still had other ongoing cases.

“Lydia is going to be in court most of the morning, if not all day,” Alec explained. “We’ve got a warrant for Verlac’s apartment, so Izzy and Raphael, you’re with Magnus and me.”

“Simon,” Magnus said. “We’d like you to get a start on Verlac’s bank and phone records, do your magic.”

Simon laughed, “It’s not magic.”

“Sure, it isn’t,” Magnus teased. “Just like your explanation on how Bluetooth works, definitely magic.”

“Why do I have to sit in the back of my own car?” Raphael whined.

“Because Alec is driving and I don’t do back seats,” Magnus said laughing.

“Not seated, you don’t,” Raphael mumbled, and Izzy burst into laughter.

“Don’t forget I have the key to your apartment,” Magnus said. “It would be a shame if somehow your shampoo suddenly got contaminated.”

Raphael just glared at Magnus while Izzy burst into hysterics.

“You looked great as a blonde,” She laughed.

Raphael just glared at them both before turning to the window.

“I feel like I’m missing a good story here,” Alec chuckled.

“Raphael thought it would be funny to replace my lip-gloss with a glue stick,” Magnus explained. “So I may have replaced his shampoo with hair bleach.”

“Remind me to keep on your good sides,” Alec said, amused.

“We’ve been pranking each other since childhood,” Magnus added. “Though when it comes to the king of pranks, the king is actually a queen, Cat has out pranked the lot of us.”

“Seriously?” Izzy said, surprised.

“You have no idea,” Raphael groaned. “I’m still finding glitter in my apartment after 3 years.”

When they arrived at Verlac’s apartment building, they buzzed the building caretaker, who wasn’t happy to see them.

“He hasn’t come back,” The man said, annoyed to see there were more cops this time on his doorstep.

“We have our warrant,” Magnus said, showing the man the document. “We just need you to let us in.”

While they waited for the caretaker, Magnus knocked on Maria, Verlac’s neighbour’s door. There was no answer.

“Thanks,” Alec said as the door swung open. “You can go.”

The caretaker grumbled under his breath but didn’t bother to hang around.

The apartment looked exactly as it had the last time they were inside.

“Izzy, Raphael, start in the bedroom,” Magnus said. “Alec and I will start out here.”

The small group got to work, taking care as they searched the apartment.

Alec started with the bookshelves, while Magnus went through the drawers of the small hallway table.

“I hate this part of the job,” Magnus said. “Always feels so wrong to be going through someone’s things.”

“I know what you mean,” Alec said, moving to the coffee table. He lifted a couple of magazines that were neatly stacked and found their first piece of evidence, a receipt for two large suitcases.

“Looks like Verlac purchased suitcases about a week before he disappeared,” Alec said, holding up the small piece of paper to Magnus before bagging it.

After searching the entry and lounge area, Alec and Magnus moved into the kitchen. They found a drawer full of bills and paperwork, but everything was in Sebastian Verlac’s name.

Izzy and Raphael weren’t having much luck in the bedroom and bathroom. The only thing out of the ordinary was that there seemed to be two different sizes of shoes in his closet. There was a pair of dress shoes and a pair of old runners in size 12 as well as a pair of runners and boots in size 10. Izzy bagged the shoes hoping for DNA or trace. All the clothes in the closet seemed to be roughly the same size.

“If Verlac went on vacation, it doesn’t look like he packed much in the way of clothes,” Izzy said to Raphael who was going through the side tables beside the bed.

“Usually you’d find empty drawers or spaces in the hanging area, but it doesn’t look like anything’s been removed, especially not enough clothes for a 3-month vacation.” She explained.

“All his personal items are still in the bathroom too,” Raphael said. He’d already bagged the man’s toothbrush, electric razor and hairbrush.

“I doubt he was going overseas without this,” Izzy said as she walked towards Raphael. In her hand was a shoebox and inside was Verlac’s passport, birth certificate and few other documents and about $500 in cash.

“It’s starting to feel more and more like Verlac is a missing person, possibly another victim,” Magnus said frowning when Izzy showed them the passport.

By the time the group had finished searching the apartment, they had a couple of small boxes of items but nothing that pointed to where Verlac could have gone or his mysterious boyfriend.

After returning to the precinct, Izzy logged everything they collected into evidence and sent items for testing to the lab.

“Let’s break for lunch,” Alec said. “Hopefully Simon will have something for us.”

“Sounds like a great idea,” Magnus said, smiling at Alec as they walked out of the conference room.

Magnus couldn’t help but glance at Alec’s desk and was happy to see a chair, a new and very comfortable looking chair parked in front of it.

“Looks like blondie came through,” Magnus said, smiling widely at Alec.

At first, Alec wasn’t sure what Magnus meant until he realised Magnus was looking at his desk, and there was his new chair.

Alec couldn’t help himself, he made a beeline for it and dropped down into it sighing happily. “This is so much better,” He said as he adjusted the height. “I can even adjust the backrest and arm height.” He said excitedly.

Magnus couldn’t help but grin at the man as he fiddled with the leavers on the chair like an excited kid. It was then that he noticed the Magic 8 ball sitting on his desk and he realised that it must be the nanny cam because it definitely hadn’t been there the day before.

Perching on the edge of Alec’s desk, Magnus bumped the cam with his hip and then discretely turned it so that the tiny little red light that was barely visible was facing away from Alec’s keyboard and towards the staff room.

“We’re going out to grab a sandwich,” Izzy said as she made her way over to them. “Nice chair.”

“Sounds good to me,” Alec said, standing and pushing his new chair into his desk.

“I’ll pass,” Magnus said and noticed the flash of disappointment on Alec’s face. “I have a few follow up calls I need to make for another case, and I brought some lunch in today.”

“Suit yourself,” Izzy said, sliding her arm through Alec’s. “Let’s go Hermano, Raphael and Simon will be waiting outside.”

“Enjoy lunch,” Magnus said, smiling at the two.

“Bye,” Alec said, giving Magnus a small wave and then regretting the motion as his sister eyed his suspiciously.

“What?” Alec said as they stood in the lift.

“Nothing,” Izzy chuckled. “For now.”

Magnus made his way back into the conference room and pulled the envelope out of his briefcase. He waiting for a few minutes to ensure Alec had left the building and made his way over to his desk. Glancing around, only a few people were sitting at their desks, and no one was paying him any attention. Before he could second guess himself, he slid the envelope onto Alec’s keyboard and took off in the direction of the stairs.

Magnus pulled a protein bar out of this desk drawer and pulled out a file for another case he had ongoing. He busied himself making his calls, trying to forget the letter he’d place on Alec’s desk. He’d almost been able to put it out of his mind until he heard Izzy laughing as she made her way into the office and he realised that they’d returned from lunch and Alec was most likely about to find the letter at any moment. He wasn’t sure why he was so nervous, it wasn’t like he’d come out as Alec’s secret note writer in the letter, but it was definitely an escalation in their interaction.

Magnus couldn’t help the disappointment that flooded him when he went downstairs and noticed Alec in the conference room and the envelope still sitting on his keyboard. Of course, Alec had made his way to the conference room because that was where he’d left his laptop.

Alec smiled widely at Magnus as he walked into the conference room and Magnus felt the butterflies in is tummy take flight. Honestly, could the man be any more beautiful?

“Everything OK?” Alec asked Magnus and Magnus realised he must have been staring at the man.

“All good,” He said, shaking himself out of his thoughts. “The others will be down soon, I suspect.”

Magnus took his seat next to Alec and opened up his emails, scanning through them quickly. There was nothing new since he last checked them on his phone about 5 minutes ago.

“The CSU lab is processing the items we gave them for trace and DNA,” Izzy said walking into the conference room, closely followed by Raphael and Simon.

“Anything at all, back from the lab?” Alec asked.

“They’ve got a lead on the weapon used, we should have the report soon. The blood work and DNA test aren’t done yet, it’s only been a few days,” Izzy said annoyed. “This isn’t TV.”

Alec rolled his eyes at his sister, but he did understand.

“So we know since we have Verlac’s passport, that if he left the country, he didn’t do it legally,” Magnus said standing and adding a note to the murder board behind them.

“Anything from the phone and bank records?” he asked Simon.

“I’m still waiting on the phone records,” Simon said, annoyed. Phone companies were notoriously hard to deal with even with a subpoena unless you were the FBI then they tended to run at requests.

“Verlac has 3 accounts with his bank, an everyday account, a bonus saver and a credit card,” Simon explained. “There has been no activity on any of his accounts since 2 days after he quit his job at St Paul's. There was a transaction on his credit card 2 weeks ago, but that was just his reoccurring rent payment. ”

“He has about $3000 in his everyday account and $15,500 in his bonus saver,” Simon added.

Alec scribbled down some notes and then sighed. They still didn’t have much to go on.

“We need to give the Captain an update,” Alec said, finally looking up. “The rest of you can head out once your shift is done. We’ll take this up again Monday morning, at 8 am.”

Alec and Magnus returned to an empty conference room after giving Luke their update. Luke wasn’t happy, they didn’t have any new leads, and their investigation seemed to be stalled, waiting on results from the lab.

Alec and Magnus both worked silently together, clearing up the conference room, packing away their laptops and Alec even took the bin out and placed it near the door. They planned to lock the door over the weekend, even to the cleaning staff.

“Any plans for the weekend?” Magnus asked Alec as he finished his packing.

“Not really,” Alec said. “Family dinner on Sunday.” He said a little annoyed.

“I take it you’re not looking forward to that?” Magnus asked.

“Not in the slightest,” Alec said. “Honestly the only reason I go is Izzy and Jace.”

“Always the protective big brother,” Magnus smiled at Alec, and Alec felt his heart flutter.

“How about you?” Alec asked after a moment.

“I’m looking forward to sleeping in,” Magnus said smirking. “Other than that not much, I’m on call this weekend.”

Being a cop was never a Monday to Friday, 9 to 5 job but thankfully Alec and Magnus had worked hard and mostly got to work a regular week if you could call the long days regular. A perk of their positions was having weekends off when they weren’t chasing active leads, but they were still on the call roster and would occasionally get called in when they needed a detective.

“Hopefully, you don’t get a call,” Alec said as he locked the door.

“From your lips to whoever's in charges ears,” Magnus chuckled. “Have a wonderful weekend Alec.”

“You too Magnus, see you Monday.”

They both hesitated for a moment before turning away from each other. Alec made his way to his desk, and Magnus went to the stairs that led up to his office.

Alec was smiling as he took in his new chair but then felt his breath hitch in his throat when he noticed the envelope on his keyboard. This envelope looked thick, much thicker than usual. Alec stepped closer and picked it up. There was nothing on the front and back as per usual, he slipped his finger under the flap and opened it. Inside were pages, at least two, and he realised this was no simple note.

Alec closed the envelope and slipped it into his briefcase, he didn’t want to open it and read it while people were milling around. He was about to take off when he remembered about the nanny cam on his desk. Pulling out his phone, he opened the app. The envelope had to be put on his desk sometime around lunch, so he scrolled back in the recordings and frowned.

The recordings from earlier in the morning showed his desk and keyboard, then there was a dark shadow over the camera, and suddenly the recordings changed to a view of the staff room.

“Crap,” Alec mumbled to himself. Someone had moved the camera, he still had no idea who had left the envelope.

Alec made it home in record time, thoughts of picking up some take out for dinner forgotten the moment he’d seen the envelope on his keyboard. All he wanted to do was get home and read it. He wasn’t sure what he expected it to say, but he hoped it would give him some idea what the writer of the notes wanted.

Alec told himself to just keep to his usual routine as he opened his apartment door. He’d lock his gun away, go change, and then settle down and read the note. All those thoughts left him the moment he stepped inside and closed the door behind him. He made a beeline for his couch, almost ripping his briefcase open to get at the envelope.

For a moment he just held in between his fingers, nervousness and excitement bubbling up inside him. Carefully opening the envelope, he pulled out the pages inside and started to read.

_Dearest Detective,_

_I know you must have questions and I have written this letter to answer some of those questions for you._

_Firstly let me start off by saying, no this is not a joke. I have not written you these notes or this letter as some sort of prank. I know the men and women of this precinct are notorious pranksters, but I am not one of them and this not a prank._

_Second why you? That may be the easiest question for me to answer. You have one of the sharpest minds I have ever encountered, and that along with your quick wit and steely determination caught my attention like no other. When you took your oath to protect and serve, there was never a doubt that that was what you intended to do and I see you doing exactly that day in and day out. Your commitment to your job, the way you protect not only your friends and family but everyone in need has restored my faith that one person can truly make a difference in this world._

_What do I want? I have sat here thinking precisely what is it I want and I admit honestly, I am not sure. I know I want to get to know you, and I want you to get to know me, and anything past that is a bonus and a gift. Are my intentions of a romantic nature, I believe so, but I would never push. I would never want to do anything that would make you feel uncomfortable, if all we could ever be to each other are friends then I would take that over not having you in my life._

_Who am I? Well, honestly, I am not ready to disclose that information just yet. But I cannot finish this letter without giving you some basics. We work in the same building, we have interacted and talked, and I am male. I know you are a very private person and that you prefer to keep your personal life, to yourself, but it’s also not a secret that you prefer to date men and are currently single._

_And lastly, I have enclosed an empty envelope. I would love to hear from you. Since you can’t exactly deliver the letter to me, you can leave it on top of the cupboard in the break room, just above the sign that asks everyone to wash their own mugs that everyone ignores._

_I will check for your return letter there. If after a week I don’t find a letter, then I promise to never bother you again._

_Always yours_

_A Hopeful Friend._


	4. Chapter 4

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Alec turns up at the Precinct on his day off and ends up spending the day with Magnus.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All,
> 
> Chapter 4 is finally done! I can not apologise enough at how slow I've been posting but please be assured that I will not abandon this fic. Real-life is just so busy, I'm struggling to find time to write and I've been in a little slump in which I hate everything I write!
> 
> I'm on vacation soon, yah! and I am hoping to carve out some time to do some serious writing and get more in the story. Next chapter most likely will not be posted until after New Years. Please hang in there with me.
> 
> I would like to take this opportunity to thank each and every one of you for all the support you've given me this year. I know I've said it so many time before but your kudos and comments really keep me going. It's been a horrible year but we've almost made it to the end. Please pray to whichever god you believe in that next year things turn around for all of us and we can put all this behind us. 
> 
> Wishing you all, your families and loved ones, a wonderful Christmas filled with joy and laughter and a safe and Happy New Year!
> 
> Take care and big hugs to you all, 🤗 🤗 🤗
> 
> Tania

Alec woke at 5 am and groaned. He’d tossed and turned all night, not sure what to make of the letter he’d received, so he was exhausted, but his damn body clock was telling him it was time to get up.

After trying unsuccessfully to get back to sleep for about 40 minutes, Alec finally gave up and jumped into the shower. Since he really didn’t have any place to be today, he made himself pancakes and read the news on his phone while he ate. His eyes kept drifting to the envelope on his coffee table.

Alec wasn’t sure what to make of his secret letter writer. He had to admit he’d been relieved to find out they were male, he really didn’t want a repeat of high school where he’d had to politely fend off the advances from more than a few teenage girls.

Alec knew he should reply to the letter, he just had no idea what he wanted to say. He had admitted to himself the night before that he loved the notes, they really did brighten his day, but did he want to get to know the person sending them? He had no idea.

Deciding to avoid the issue altogether, Alec changed out of the sweats he’d dressed in after his shower, and make his way into the precinct. There were a few things he wanted to go over, and it was always easier to work there than at home.

Alec wasn’t entirely surprised to see Magnus sitting in the conference room when he arrived at the precinct. He was reading something on his computer screen and frowning.

What did surprise him though was the fact that he wearing glasses. Alec felt his cheeks warm as he took in the man. Magnus was wearing black jeans and a dark red shirt, his hair was still impeccably styled, but he was wearing minimal makeup, from what Alec could tell it was only eyeliner. Perched on his nose was a pair of copper coloured wire-rimmed glasses and they looked incredible on him.

Alec finally moved forward and stepped into the room, and he felt the butterflies in his stomach flip flop when Magnus looked up at him and smiled. Alec beamed back at him, how could he not, Magnus was, without a doubt, the most beautiful person Alec had ever seen.

Magnus was pleasantly surprised when he looked up and found Alec walking into the conference room. If his heart skipped a beat at a casually dressed Alec, no one needed to know.

Alec’s hair was messy, he was wearing faded blue jeans and a tight navy t-shirt. Magnus loved Alec in a suit but dressed like this, his incredible body was on display, definitely made Magnus’ morning.

“Couldn’t stay away?” Magnus teased.

“I got bored,” Alec said shrugging.

“It’s 9 am?” Magnus laughed.

Alec felt himself blush again as he took his seat beside Magnus.

“I obviously wasn’t the only one bored,” Alec said after he took out his laptop.

“I get too easily distracted at home to get anything done,” Magnus laughed.

“I know what you mean,” Alec said as he set up his laptop.

They both worked in silence for a little while, both men going through their emails. Alec was just sending off his last email when Magnus spoke.

“Do we know who made the 911 call?” Magnus asked.

Alec pulled out his notes and flipped through them. “The caller didn’t leave their name, and the number belongs to a Deli about 4 blocks from The Sanctuary.”

“We need to get that 911 call,” Magnus said.

“Officers talked to the owner of the deli, he thought a man used the payphone that morning, but he couldn’t really give a description,” Alec said reading his notes. “It seems the cameras in the store haven’t worked in months.”

“We should reinterview him, show him photos of Verlac and Seb2,” Magnus said.

“I think we need to recanvas the neighbourhood too, looks like they only about a third of the houses they canvased has someone home,” Alec added.

“Let’s put Raphael and Lydia on that first thing Monday,” Magnus said making a note for Monday.

Alec noticed a report come through from the Lab and opened it excitedly. “Looks like we have the weapon report.”

He read through it quickly, and Magnus could tell by the look on his face it wasn’t exactly good news.

“The lab confirms that the weapon used was a straight bladed swivel knife, a leatherworking tool, but unfortunately they are too common to trace the exact knife. Seems you can buy them at almost any craft store,” Alec huffed frustrated.

“I had a feeling that’s what they’d find, our killer is smart, too smart to use some fancy tool we’d be able to trace,” Magnus said.

“We just don’t seem to be able to catch a break so far,” Alec said, annoyed.

“We will,” Magnus said, trying to sound hopeful.

At about 10.30 am, Alec received an email that had both men beyond excited. Professor Nottingham had replied to Raphael’s email, and he knew precisely what the runes meant.

Not wanting to wait, Alec quickly emailed the professor back, and they organised a skype call for 3 pm New York time.

“I need to go back to the crime scene,” Magnus said, reading over the ME’s notes.

“I was thinking about doing another walk through myself,” Alec said. “We have time before our call with Professor Nottingham.”

“We’ll have to take your car,” Alec explained. “Lydia’s got ours, and I took the subway in.”

“Not a problem,” Magnus said, taking off his glasses and scooping up the keys. Alec couldn’t help the pang of disappointment that Magnus didn’t need glasses to drive.

It didn’t take them very long to arrive at The Sanctuary, the scene was still cordoned off, crime tape everywhere. The neighbourhood was tranquil.

It was eerie walking through the house again. The bodies were gone, but the blood remained. They wouldn’t allow crime scene cleaners in until they were sure they’d gotten everything they could from the scene and released it.

Martin wasn’t in any rush to return to the house, and both Alec and Magnus realised that the future of The Sanctuary was very uncertain.

Alec started his walk through upstairs while Magnus began in the back yard. An hour later, both men were standing out the front of the house, making sure it was locked and secured.

“This whole scene is cold, calculated, precise,” Alec said as they turned to make their way back to the car. “There is no way it was a spur of the moment thing, it took planning.”

“Extensive, detailed planning,” Magnus agreed. “And there is no way this was his first time, we need to revise the parameters of our crime database search.”

“Agreed,” Alec said, already making notes in his head of the parameter they needed to add.

Killing two birds with one stone, they stopped at the Deli near The Sanctuary before returning to the precinct. They talked to the owners and picked up lunch. Unfortunately, the owner couldn’t really give them any more information. The store had been jam-packed that morning like it was every morning and no one had really paid much attention to the man who used the payphone. All they could say for sure was that it was a man and he’d left right after the call, not making a purchase. They’d showed the owner and the staff the photos of Verlac and Seb2 and neither man looked familiar to them.

On returning to the precinct, Magnus made his way into the conference room with their lunch while Alec went to the breakroom and grabbed some bottles of water. When Alec entered the room, he found that Magnus had set their lunch out on the other side of the table so they wouldn’t have to move their laptops and files.

Alec smiled as he watched Magnus unwrap his sandwich and his tummy rumbled loudly.

“I skipped breakfast,” Magnus chuckled, the tips of his ears, tinged with pink.

“I made myself pancakes,” Alec said.

“I love pancakes,” Magnus admitted.

“My parents weren’t home a lot when we were growing up,” Alec explained. “So I taught myself to cook, pancakes are the first thing I mastered.”

“You make them from scratch?” Magnus asked.

“Absolutely, and I like to get creative, my maple bacon choc chip pancakes are incredible,” Alec said excitedly.

Magnus couldn’t help the little moan that escaped his lips, “They sound incredible, and you’ll have to make them for me.”

Alec looked at Magnus for a moment, and Magnus noticed his cheeks flush as he took in Magnus’ words. Magnus hadn’t meant it in a flirty way, but now, of course, his mind was going to the reason he’d be at Alec’s early in the morning for breakfast, and he could feel his cock twitch in his pants.

Alec couldn’t help where his mind went when Magnus has suggested he make pancakes for him. Thoughts of Magnus in his bed and waking up to have breakfast together filled his head, and he knew he was blushing. He turned his attention to his sandwich, trying to get himself in check.

“Your sandwich looks incredible,” Magnus said changing the topic, worried he’d made Alec uncomfortable.

“So does yours,” Alec said, looking over at his sandwich open before him. “What did you get again?”

“Slow roasted beef, crispy bacon, cheese, pickles, mustard and ketchup,” Magnus said. “You?”

“Chicken schnitzel, avocado, crispy bacon, lettuce, cheese, tomato and mayo,” Alec said, smiling.

“OK that sounds incredible,” Magnus chuckled.

“Did you want to share?” Alec offered.

“Love too,” Magnus said, picking up half of his sandwich and exchanging it with Alec.

They sat happily, eating and chatting. Alec telling Magnus’ more stories of growing up with Izzy and Jace and Magnus telling him stories of himself, Raphael, Cat and Ragnor getting into mischief. Before they knew it, it was almost 3 pm.

Alec and Magnus huddled together in front of Alec’s laptop, Magnus pretending to cover his eyes as Alec typed in his skype password. It was one of the most annoying things about their systems, they couldn’t save logins and passwords for security reasons.

Right at 3 pm, Alec sent Professor Nottingham a requested which was answered in moments.

“Professor, I’m Detective Alec Lightwood, and this is Detective Magnus Bane,” Alec said motioning to Magnus. “Thank you for making time for us this evening,” Alec said, knowing that it was getting late in the UK.

“Of course Detective, anything I can do to help, I will,” The professor said smiling.

“Have you had a chance to review the documents sent to you by Detective Santiago?” Magnus asked.

“I have,” The professor said excitedly. “I must say, I know that these runes have come up in a murder investigation, but it was quite surprised to see them.”

The professor turned and picked up a notebook from the desk to his side. “I haven’t seen these runes in decades.”

“The runes themselves are ancient and to be honest, no one really knows where they came from, but about 30 years ago, there was a group, a cult of sorts, that adopted the runes as their own. The members of this group believed they descended from angels and that the runes gave them magical abilities they could use to fight demons.”

“The founder of the group was a man called Valentine Morgenstern, and they called themselves, The Circle.”

Alec scribbled down the names in his notes.

“Were the Circle based in the UK?” Magnus asked.

“I believe it started in Eastern Europe and at their height, they had a few thousand members in Europe, the UK and even a small group in the United States.”

“Valentine formed The Circle with the goal of reforming laws and society, but the man’s ideals became twisted, he started to believe that he and his people were superior beings and everyone else needed to be cleansed.”

“Cleansed, as in converted or eradicated?” Alec asked his stomach churning at the thought.

“Here in the UK the Circle were based in Salisbury. They started buying up land wherever they could, even forcing people out. There was a series of minor incidents, people being threatened, people going missing but no solid proof of any wrongdoing on the Circles part. The community lived in fear of the Circle, finally convincing the authorities to set up a task force to investigate the incidents. It all came to a head when Valentine and his followers completely wiped out the task forces lead inspector and his entire family. The authorities swooped in, Valentine was killed while trying to escape, and The Circle fell soon afterwards.”

“Professor, you seem to know quite a bit about the Circle,” Magnus said.

“I grew up in Salisbury, everyone from my generation knows about the Circle. In a way, they are the reason I became a professor of ancient languages because I grew fascinated by them when I first saw the runes they used on everything.”

“We really can’t thank you enough,” Alec said.

“I’m happy to help, to be honest, when I first read Detective Santiago’s email, I was filled with dread at the through that the Circle might be back.”

“We’re quite sure our perp was working alone,” Alec added.

“Valentine Morgenstern was one man and look what he did, he devastated a small community that’s still recovering decades later.” Professor Nottingham said sadly.

Alec and Magnus thanked the professor for his time, and the professor promised to get back them with the meaning of each of the runes their perp had placed on his victims.

“We’ll need to put in requests with Interpol and the UK police and get everything we can on The Circle,” Magnus said.

“We’ll have to speak to the Captain first thing Monday,” Alec said, scribbling away in his notebook.

They both sat in a comfortable silence working away for another hour or so until Magnus finally broke the quiet.

“I don’t know about you, but I think I’ve had enough for one day,” He said stretching.

“I agree, and I’m starting to get hungry,” Alec said, smiling at Magnus.

“Let’s call it a night,” Magnus said, turning off his laptop.

Alec did the same, and soon they had the conference room back in order, and their bags packed.

“Do you have plans tonight, Alec?” Magnus asked as they locked up.

“No, you?” Alec said.

“Nothing either.”

“No hot date?” Alec chuckled.

Magnus laughed, “If by hot date you mean watching TV with Chairman, then yes.”

“Chairman?” Alec asked, curious.

“Chairman Meow, my cat,” Magnus explained. “I haven’t been on an actual date in months.”

“You named your cat after a dictator?”

“Trust me, Alec, when you meet him, you’ll know why,” Magnus laughed.

Alec felt his heart flutter and beamed at Magnus, he had said when not if. “If it makes you feel any better, I haven’t been on a date in almost 2 years.”

“Seriously? I find that hard to believe.” Magnus said, surprised.

“What’s so hard to believe?”

“Have you looked in the mirror?”

Alec blushed wildly, and Magnus couldn’t help the way the butterflies in his stomach fluttered the man was beyond adorable. Magnus decided to take a chance.

“Want to grab some dinner with me tonight? Chairman is great TV company, but he’s not much of a conversationalist during dinner.”

Alec hesitated for a brief moment before smiling. “Sounds good, what do you feel like?”

“There’s this great Ethiopian place not too far from here,” Magnus added.

“I’ve never tried it, but I’m game.”

“I guess I wasn’t the only one with a hankering for Ethiopian food tonight,” Magnus said as they arrived at the restaurant. The place was packed, and there was at least an hour wait for a table.

Instead of waiting, Alec and Magnus decided to ordered take out and eat at Alec’s place because it was closer.

Alec directed Magnus to the parking area under the building, and soon they were waiting patiently for the lift to take them upstairs. Alec carrying their laptop bags and Magnus weighed down with food.

“I have a feeling we’ve over-ordered,” Alec chuckled.

“I’d rather have more food than not enough, and I love leftovers,” Magnus said, smiling at Alec widely.

Alec couldn’t help but beam at the man, he was starting to think of how thankful he was for the case because it had allowed him to get to know Magnus.

As the doors of the lift opened, a man stepped out, and he smiled widely as he noticed Alec standing there.

“Hello neighbour,” he said happily.

“Hey Michael,” Alec said reluctantly turning from Magnus.

“Don’t tell me you’re just getting back from work?” The man said frowning as he stepped closer to Alec, taking in the laptop bags. “You work too hard Officer,” he purred.

Magnus watched the man in front of them eat Alec up with his eyes and had to hold back a chuckle because Alec seemed to be utterly oblivious to the man’s flirting and looked downright uncomfortable by the man’s attention.

It was then that Michael noticed Magnus standing there and his smile turned into a frown.

“Who’s your handsome friend,” Michael asked.

“Oh,” Alec said, turning to smile at Magnus. “Michael, this is Magnus, Magnus, Michael, my neighbour.”

“Very nice to meet you,” Magnus said politely, he had his hands full, so he didn’t offer his hand.

“Likewise,” Michael said, but Magnus could tell the man didn’t mean it. He gave Magnus a once over before turning back to Alec.

“You still haven’t taken me up on that offer for drinks,” Michael said, ignoring Magnus.

“Works crazy,” Alec said.

“Right,” Michael said, not entirely believing Alec.

The lift doors started to close, and Alec shifted forward and around Michael, holding the doors with his hand. Magnus pushed past Michael who just didn’t seem to want to budge and stepped inside, feeling a little awkward.

Alec stepped into the lift turning back to Michael.

“Have a good night Michael,” Alec said, forcing a smile.

“Thank you,” Michael said, not bothering to suggest the same to Alec. “See you soon, Officer.”

The doors to the lift closed and Magnus couldn’t help but laugh out loud.

“What’s so funny?” Alec asked.

“It’s no wonder you haven’t been on a date in so long,” Magnus chuckled.

“What do you mean?”

“Michael was flirting with you, and you didn’t even seem to notice.”

“He was?” Alec asked, confused.

“Oh yeah,” Magnus smirked.

They rode up to Alec’s floor in silence, and it wasn’t until Alec stepped out of the lift that he turned to Magnus.

“He’s not my type anyway,” he said matter of factly, his eyes slowly giving Magnus a once over.

Magnus felt the butterflies in his tummy take off again. Alec Lightwood was flirting with him, and he loved it!

Alec unlocked his front door and turned on the lights as he stepped inside, Magnus only a step behind him.

Alec dropped their laptop bags in the entryway and slid off his shoes when Magnus went to do the same Alec stopped him.

“You don’t have to,” He said.

“I’d honestly be more comfortable with them off,” Magnus smiled, slipping them off and lining them up next to Alec’s.

Alec looked at their shoes, side by side, and felt silly at how his heart skipped a beat at the sight.

“Let me help,” Alec said, coming back to himself pointing to takeout in Magnus’ hands.

“I’ve carried them this far, a little further to the table won’t hurt,” Magnus chuckled.

“We could eat at the table, or we could sit on the couch, watch something while we eat,” Alec said, not sure what Magnus would prefer.

“The couch sounds good,” Magnus stepped into the lounge area and placed the take out on the small coffee table.

“What would you like to drink?” Alec asked.

“What do you have?”

“Have no clue,” Alec laughed. “Quick tour and then we’ll check.”

“OK,” Magnus said, smiling.

“So obviously this is the lounge and to our right is the dining area and kitchen,” Alec said, walking forward into the kitchen. “The kitchen has a small walk-in pantry, and it leads into the laundry.”

Magnus ducked his head into the pantry. “That’s a great idea, it’s tucked out of the way.”

Walking forward, Alec pointed out the spare bedroom, his study, the bathroom and his room to the left. “There is balcony access off the lounge and the master bedroom,” He explained leading Magnus through the door off the lounge. “The view isn’t that great, but it’s nice to sit out there on a warm night.”

“I’ll have to show you the view from my balcony, it is honestly what sold me on my place.”

Alec smiled at Magnus, “I look forward to seeing it,” he said honestly. “Oh, and meeting Chairman Meow.”

Magnus beamed at him.

“Foods getting cold,” Alec said after a moment.

They walked back inside, and Alec made his way to his fridge.

“I have water, coke, sprite, this horrible stuff Jace considers to be beer and some white wine,” He said.

“White would go nicely with dinner,” Magnus said happily.

Alec grabbed one of the bottles from the fridge, and a couple of wine glasses, taking them over to where Magnus was now sitting and setting up the takeout containers. He quickly made his way back into the kitchen and returned a few moments later with plates, cutlery and some napkins.

“Did you want to watch anything in particular?” he asked as he picked up the TV remote.

“Not really,” Magnus said opening containers.

Alec turned on the TV, and it was on a music channel.

“I’d be happy with music,” Magnus said, smiling.

“I love MTV classic, it plays a huge mix of old and new,” Alec explained.

Over the next few hours, Alec and Magnus, ate and talked and before they knew it, it was 1 am, and they’d polished off 3 bottles of wine.

“It’s getting late,” Magnus said not really wanting the night to come to an end but knowing he’d have to make a move home soon.

“Not sure you should drive home,” Alec said, pointing to the empty bottles. “You are more than welcome to the spare room.”

Magnus thought for a moment, Chairman would be fine, he had his feeder, so he wasn’t going to starve. He might be a little cranky about being left alone, but it often happened due to his line of work.

“Thank you, Alexander,” Magnus said, and Alec felt his pulse race. He had always hated his full name, his parents always used it when they were angry with him, but when Magnus said it, which wasn’t very often, it made him tingle.

“The beds all made up, clean sheets etc.,” Alec said. “I can borrow you something to sleep in.”

Magnus usually slept in the nude, but he didn’t want to tell Alec that, so instead he smiled and said, “Some sweat pants and a t-shirt would be great.”

They cleaned up the dinner mess together. Magnus placed their glasses and cutlery in the dishwasher while Alec threw out all the empty containers and put the leftover into the fridge.

“Let's get you some clothes,” Alec said, making his way to his bedroom.

Magnus hovered in the doorway, most of the apartment was light and airy, but Alec’s bedroom had a very different feel. It had dark walls and drapes, a huge king-sized bed and there was a large overflowing bookcase on one wall. The room had a very masculine feel to it, it was very Alec.

“Would this be OK?” Alec asked, holding up a pair of light grey sweat pants and a matching t-shirt.

“Perfect Alec,” Magnus smiled at him.

“They should fit OK, we’re roughly the same height, but the shirt might be a little tight,” Alec said blushing as Alec’s eyes strayed over his arms and chest.

Alec walked over to the bathroom and stepped inside, motioning Magnus to follow.

“Fresh towels are on the rack,” he said, pointing to the steel rack on one corner. Alec opened one of the cabinets under the skin and pulled out a packages toothbrush and toothpaste.

“I always keep a spare, just in case, but siblings crash here a lot,” he chuckled. “Oh, and you might need these.” Alec pulled out a packet of makeup wipes. “There Izzy’s,” he explained.

“Thank you, Alec,” Magnus beamed at him.

They stepped out of the bathroom, and Alec opened the door to the spare room. “The bed has fresh sheets,” he said. “I’ll leave you to it. If you need anything you know where to find me.”

“Thank you, Alec, sleep well,” Magnus said, smiling at the man.

“You too Magnus, sweet dream,” Alec blushed for a moment and then took off for his room.

Magnus walked into the spare room and sat on the edge of the bed, it was soft and comfy. Before getting changed, he made his way to where Alec had left their laptop bags and grabbed his. He’d need the spare charger for his phone which he always carried. He changed quickly, popped his phone on charge and then made his way into the bathroom.

20 minutes later, Magnus was slipping into bed with a smile on his face. He’d had such a great day, and it was all thanks to the beautiful man sleeping not too far away.

Alec couldn’t help smiling as he stood in front of the mirror, brushing his teeth. He never imagined when he’d woken up that morning that he’d end up spending the day with Magnus, let alone having the man sleeping over. Alec loved having Magnus in his home, and he’d be lying if he denied the thought of Magnus in his bed hadn’t crossed his mind more than once. But they were still getting to know one another and even if the attraction that Alec felt for Magnus was returned, Alec wasn’t the sort of just fall into bed so quickly.

It wasn’t until Alec slipped into bed that he remembered his secret admirer, he hadn’t thought about him since leaving home that morning. He turned on his side lamp and opened his drawer. The small pile of notes sat there with the letter he’d received. He was glad he hadn’t left them on the coffee table. He was still unsure how he felt and what he was going to say to his secret admirer, and he certainly wasn’t ready to share or explain them with anyone.

Alec couldn’t stop the yawn from escaping his lips and decided to sleep first and worry about writing back to his admirer tomorrow. Get comfy in bed, he drifted off to sleep, his mind swirling with thoughts of who his admirer could be and then shifting to Magnus.

Magnus woke up slowly and snuggled further into the comforter on the bed. He wasn’t ready to start his day just yet. It wasn’t until he opened his eyes that he remembers that he was currently in Alexander Lightwood’s spare room. Magnus couldn’t help but smile when he thought of the man. Spending the day with Alec yesterday had only reinforced his feeling for the man, and he hoped that sending him the notes wouldn’t backfire now that they were getting closer.

Checking his phone, Magnus was surprised to see that it was already 8 am, he hardly ever slept in. He contemplated staying where he was, but in the end, his bladder made the decision for him, and he had to get up to go to the bathroom. He was just stepping out of the bathroom when he heard movement and followed the sound.

His breath caught in his throat as he walked towards the kitchen and spied Alec. He was dressed in a tight black t-shirt and sweatpants, he had his earbuds in, and he was singing softly and dancing around as he mixed something in a bowl.

When Alec turned and spied Magnus, he almost dropped the bowl he was holding and blushed wildly at being caught out.

Alec put the bowl on the countertop and took out his earbuds.

“Good morning Alec,” Magnus said, stepping closer.

“Morning Magnus, sleep, OK?”

“Like a log, I can’t remember the last time I slept past 6 am,” Magnus said happily.

Alec felt his cheeks flush, and parts of his body react as he ran his eyes over the man in front of him. Magnus’ hair was a mess, the t-shirt he was wearing was tight against his chest and arms, and Alec’s borrowed sweats rode low on his hips, and Alec noticed he’d rolled up the legs a little. He was all rumpled from sleep, and yet he was, without a doubt, the most beautiful person Alec had ever laid eyes on.

“Please tell me you’re making your famous maple bacon choc chip pancakes,” Magnus said looking into the bowl.

Alec snapped out of his thoughts, “I am,” he said, smiling.

“Anything I can do to help?” Magnus asked.

“You could start frying up the bacon,” Alec beamed at him.

Soon both men were working side by side. Alec was finishing off the batter while Magnus was frying up the bacon and placing it on the paper towels Alec had already set out.

“The batter needed to sit for about 10 minutes,” Alec explained. “Then we’ll fold in the choc chips and crumbled up bacon.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Magnus smiled at him.

“Coffee?” Alec asked and walked over to his coffee machine.

“Yes please,” Magnus said, taking a seat on one of the stools near the breakfast bar.

Alec didn’t bother to ask Magnus how he took his coffee because they both enjoyed it the same way. He made them both a cup and then got out a small pan.

“It takes longer only cooking one pancake at a time,” Alec explained, “But I get better results with the smaller pan.”

Magnus sat, sipping his coffee and watching Alec as he made pancake after pancake, flipping them expertly. Not before too long, they had a huge stack.

“If you’ll set the table,” Alec said, pointing Magnus to where the plates and cutlery were, “I’ll grab the condiments.”

Magnus carried the pancakes the table and then came back for the rest, while Alec grabbed syrup and cream from the fridge and ice cream from the freezer.

Alec sat and waited patiently for Magnus to take his first bite. When Magnus moaned and licked his lips, Alec felt his cock twitch in his pants, it was the sexiest sound he’d ever heard.

“Alexander,” Magnus gushed. “These are incredible.”

Alec blushed at the praise, turning to his own plate.

“Expect me for breakfast every morning,” Magnus said before shoving another piece of pancake into his mouth.

They fell into a comfortable conversation after that and soon they had polished off the entire stack.

“I may need a nap after eating all of those pancakes,” Magnus said. “But I regret nothing. They truly are delicious.”

“Glad you enjoyed them,” Alec said, reaching for the empty plates.

“Oh no, you don’t,” Magnus said. “You cooked, I’ll stack the dishwasher.”

Alec didn’t argue, it was nice to have someone who offered to help for a change. He loved his siblings, but they were inherently lazy and never offered.

Alec put away all the condiments and then watched as Magnus rinsed out the batter bowl and stack the dishwasher.

“Any plans for today?” Magnus found himself asking Alec as he turned to see him leaning against the fridge.

“Mostly catching up on chores around the house, but I do have a family dinner tonight at my mother's,” Alec said his features darkening.

“I’m guessing it's not something you’re looking forward too,” Magnus said.

“Not in the slightest.”

“Then why go?”

“Honestly, I will be worse if I don’t,” Alec said honestly. “Izzy and Jace will be there, so I won’t have to deal with her alone.”

“I’m sorry you have to deal with it at all, Alec,” Magnus said not sure what else to say.

“It’s fine,” Alec said, but Magnus knew it wasn’t. “What about you, any fun plans?”

“If by fun you mean laundry and sucking up to who I know will be an extremely cranky cat, then just, loads of fun,” Magnus chuckled, and Alec laughed loudly.

“Your cat rules the apartment doesn’t he,” Alec giggled.

“You have no idea, he’s not called the Chairman for nothing.”

Both men took quick showers, and Magnus changed back into his clothes from the previous day.

Collecting all his things, Magnus hesitated. He honestly didn’t want to leave, but he also didn’t want to overstay his welcome.

“Did you want me to strip the bed?” Magnus asked Alec as he stepped out of the spare room to find Alec hovering.

“No, it's fine,” Alec smiled at him.

“I’ll take these home and return them washed,” Magnus said, holding up the clothes he’d borrowed.

“You don’t need to do that,” Alec said. “I’m going to do laundry too.” He held out his hand, and Magnus reluctantly handed the clothes over.

“What did you want me to do with the toothbrush?” Magnus asked.

“Oh,” Alec said, smiling and taking off to the kitchen to return only moments later.

“I’ll pop it into this little baggie once it’s dried, just in case you stay over again,” Alec explained. “I do the same for my siblings.”

Magnus couldn’t help his heart flutter at the thought of staying over again. “Great idea.”

Alec walked Magnus to the door, and they both hesitated.

“I’ll see you tomorrow,” Magnus said, smiling at Alec.

“Gym in the morning?” Alec asked.

“I’ll be there,” Magnus beamed at him.

“Great, enjoy the rest of your day Magnus.”

“Good luck tonight,” Magnus said.

“Thank you, good luck with Chairman,” Alec chuckled.

“Thanks, I’m going to need it.” Magnus laughed.

Alec watched as Magnus made his way to the lift and step inside before going back into his apartment.

Magnus was still smiling widely as the lift doors opened to the parking area and was surprised to see the man from the night before standing there with groceries.

Alec’s neighbour seemed surprised to see Magnus at first, and then his face broke out into a scowl.

“Good morning,” Magnus said to the man happily.

“Is it?” Michael said, giving Magnus a once over and not happy to see him in the same clothes as the previous day.

“Oh, it most certainly is,” Magnus teased as he stepped past the man and made his way to his car.

He knew he was being a little mean, making it seem like he’d spent the night with Alec, but Magnus couldn’t help wanting to ensure the man knew he was staking his claim and Alec was taken.

Alec felt his stomach lurch as he stepped into his mother’s house. Even though he’d lived in the house for almost 10 years, he never thought of it as home. Home had been the tiny apartment he’d shared with his parents and sister and eventually Jace.

When Alec was 12, his grandfather had passed away, leaving his parents with a reasonably large estate. They used the money to buy this house, in a more affluent neighbourhood. The house itself had a sordid past. It had been owned by the leader of a drug syndicate who had been murdered in the house. Alec was sure that he wasn’t the first person murdered there either.

His parents had bought the place, stripped it bare and rebuilt it, turning it in the house it was today. Cold and sterile. It was beautiful, impeccably decorated, but it had no personality, no heart.

If you didn’t know better, you could almost think it was a display home because it just didn’t feel like anyone actually lived here. Though these days it was just Maryse Lightwood. Alec had escaped as soon as possible, followed by Jace and Izzy soon after. And of course, Robert was now in LA, so it left Maryse.

Alec walked into the lounge area to find Izzy sitting stiffly on one of the couches, phone in hand, she looked to be scrolling through her emails.

“Hey Iz,” Alec said, dropping down beside her.

“Hermano,” She said, smiling at her brother. “I honestly thought you wouldn’t come.”

“I considered not coming, but it would only make matters worse,” He explained.

Family dinners were always awkward affairs. Maryse and Robert’s marriage had been over for years, they only stayed together to keep up appearances, and it wasn’t really any secret that Robert had a wandering eye and had had numerous affairs.

When Robert had accepted the job in California, the story had been that it was the opportunity of a lifetime that he just couldn’t pass up. Still, anyone who knew the couple personally knew that wasn’t the complete truth. Robert had resented the fact that Maryse had been promoted over him and he was also currently involved with a woman half his age.

The only reason Alec still attended the family dinners was because of his siblings, and honestly, it kept his mother off his back most of the time. They had come to an understanding. Alec’s personal life was off limits and never discussed. The arrangement suited both Alec and Maryse perfectly.

“I heard you working all day yesterday,” Izzy said.

“I wasn’t the only one,” Alec explained.

“So, you and Magnus,” Izzy teased.

“Iz, we were working.”

“Were you working when you had dinner together at your place?”

Alec looked at his sister in surprise. “How did you know that?”

“Raphael told me,” she explained. “My guess is Magnus might have mentioned it to him.”

“We worked late, we grabbed some take out, and my place was closer. We ate, listened to music, and had a few bottles of wine and Magnus stayed over.”

“Way to go,” Izzy said excitedly.

“In the spare room Iz,” Alec said quietly trying to keep his voice down.

“Boring,” Izzy rolled her eyes at him.

“Iz, we work together,” Alec said.

“So?”

“Speaking of which, Simon?”

“What about Simon?” Izzy asked innocently.

“What’s going on there?” Alec asked concern in his voice.

Izzy was about the answer when Jace stepped into the room.

“Dinner’s ready,” Jace announced.

“It’s complicated,” Izzy whispered.

“We’ll talk later,” Alec said to Izzy, ignoring Jace.

They followed Jace into the dining room where Maryse was putting the last of the dishes on the table. The meal before them was fit for a king and of course, there was enough food to feed an army, but Maryse Lightwood hadn’t lifted a finger. Her staff would have prepared everything before they’d left for the day, only leaving Maryse with the task of heat and throwing the meals together.

Everyone took their seat, the end of the table, left empty, no one sat in Robert’s chair.

“No Clary tonight?” Alec asked, noticing for the first time that the tiny redhead was missing.

“She’s working tonight, there is some show at the gallery,” Jace explained. Besides her work with the NYPD, Clary worked part-time at an art gallery, as well as working on her own art.

The Lightwoods weren’t a saying grace sort of family, so once Maryse took her seat, they all dug in, piling their plates.

“How are things going with the Special Investigations unit Isabelle?” Maryse asked, breaking the silence around the dinner table.

“Great,” Izzy said excitedly. “We’re currently working on the Sanctuary case, which is great because I get a chance to work with Alec.”

“Yes, so I hear,” Maryse said frowning.

Maryse asked Jace how things were at the office, not once did she steer the conversation towards Alec.

Ever since coming out, Maryse barely spoke to her son. At first, Alec had hated it, he had wanted to confront her to get some sort of reaction from the woman, but he’d decided to let it go, if she couldn’t accept him for who he was, that was her problem, not his.

“Was the scene really as gruesome as they made out in the papers?” Jace asked, and Alec shook his head.

“You know I can’t tell you about the case, but it wasn’t good.”

“Care to explain to me why you’re still lead on this case against my offices express wishes?” Maryse finally asked.

“It’s my case,” Alec said sternly, “And I’ve done nothing to warrant being removed from it.”

They all sat in silence for a moment, and Alec usually would have left it at that, but honestly, he was angry with his mother’s behaviour.

“I can’t believe you called my Captain to have me removed from the case,” Alec said. “All because you’re worried about what?”

“I am only looking out for you, Alexander, for your career.”

“It’s Alec,” Alec growled, “And my career is just fine.”

“Do you have any idea how hard I had to work to get to where I am now?” Maryse retorted. “All because I’m a woman, it will be twice as hard for someone like you, someone with your proclivities.”

Everyone sat in stunned silence for a moment. Alec lifted his glass, polishing off his wine before smashing it down on the table, shattering the stem.

“Proclivities?” Alec growled, “I’m gay, I prefer men to woman, and I’m not some sort of pervert.”

“I only want what’s best for you, Alec.”

“No,” Alec said. “No you don’t, you only want what’s best for you, because you think having a gay son is something to be embarrassed about, something to be swept under the rug and forgotten.”

“Do you want to remain a detective all your life?” she yelled.

“Actually, yes,” Alec said. “I’d happily remain a detective, I don’t want to have to deal with the politics a promotion would bring and I definitely never want to be police commissioner.”

“But it was your dream,” Maryse protested

“No, it was yours,” Alec yelled. “I want to actually help people, and I can’t do that from behind a desk.”

“What? No! What about your dreams of making Captain, Chief?”

“They aren’t my dreams, they are yours. That’s what you want for me, it’s never been what I want.” Alec said as Maryse went quiet.

“I’m not going to apologise for not being the son you thought I was, I am not going to live my life in the shadows, I will not hide who and what I am because you can’t deal. I’m gay, and I’m proud, and if you can’t handle it, then there is nothing left for us to discuss here,” Alec stood, pushing away from the table and leaving the house before anyone could get a word in.


	5. Chapter 5

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The team start an investigation into the Circle. A body is found in the East River. Alec writes back to his secret admirer. They finally get a hit back from the Crime database which leads to Magnus and Alec taking a trip to LA.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Hi All,
> 
> I am finally back with an update. So sorry it's taken me so long. As a bonus this chapter is a little longer than my usual post, about 11,000 words!
> 
> I hope you've all had a good start to 2021, mines been really sort of crazy, to be honest. The short version of my story is as follows:
> 
> I have a very relaxing 2 weeks vacation with my family.  
> My laptop hard drive died (Thank the angel I save everything to a cloud account)  
> My Amazon account was hacked and someone spent thousands on my credit card ( Huge thank you to Bank West and Amazon for getting my money back).  
> I was sent the wrong hard drive after ordering one online, took 3 weeks and multiple calls to get the right one.  
> My Twins started Grade 1, very exciting.  
> I suffered an allergic reaction when I accidentally got dosed with chicken, yes chicken. I have a very rare allergy to poultry (ie most things that fly and are white meat), so I spent 3 days throwing up and a week covered in the most horrible hives you can imagine!  
> 2 weeks after school started we were in lockdown for 5 days and we were back to homeschooling for 3 days, not as exciting.  
> Thankfully, restrictions are easing again here.  
> And it seems I blinked and we're already in March!
> 
> I have added some notes to the end of this chapter because there are a few things I wanted to go over and explain etc but didn't want to do it here, and give away spoilers.
> 
> I hope you are all safe and sound and things are getting back to normal wherever you are in the world! 
> 
> Take care and be safe and thank you for sticking with me!

It didn’t take Magnus’ training as a detective to tell him that Alec was in a bad mood come Monday morning. Alec was at the punching bag when he’d stepped into the gym, and Magnus was surprised that it was still connected to the ceiling.

“I’m guessing dinner with your mother didn’t go well,” Magnus said, frowning as he appraised Alec.

Alec finished off his combination before stepping away from the bag. “It did not.”

“I know you probably don’t want to talk about it, but I’m here for you if you do,” Magnus said, stepping in close.

Alec was surprised by Magnus’ comment, Izzy, Jace, even Lydia always pushed Alec to talk, and he hated it. At that moment, Alec had never wanted to kiss anyone as much as he wanted to kiss Magnus.

“Thank you,” Alec said, taking another step forward.

They were so close that Magnus could feel the heat coming off Alec’s body, and his heart raced as he noticed Alec’s eyes dropping to his lips. Magnus leant forward and was about to close the distance between them when the door to the gym flew open.

The patrolman that entered went straight to the change room, not even noticing Alec and Magnus, but the moment was gone, and Alec had taken a step back.

“Why don’t you give those hands of yours a break and come run with me,” Magnus said, motioning to the treadmills.

Alec couldn’t find his voice, so he just smiled and followed Magnus to the treadmill. Alec was almost positive that if that patrolman hadn’t walked in, they would have kissed. He’d seen the same want and desire in Magnus’ eyes as he knew were in his own.

Alec handed Magnus one of his earbuds, and the men fell into a comfortable silence as they ran, side by side. Magnus wasn’t surprised that the playlist Alec was listening too was heavier to match his mood.

They worked out together for the next hour before showering and making their way into the conference room.

Isabelle was the first to arrive that morning, and she made her way over to Alec, hugging him tightly.

“I’m so proud of you,” She said as she let him go. “Mother tried to justify her actions, saying you were overreacting, but Jace and I just walked out.”

Alec smiled at his sister. She always had his back in everything. He was a lucky man to have such incredible siblings.

“Good morning Magnus,” Izzy said, finally turning to the man.

“Morning, Isabelle,” Magnus smiled at the woman. He wasn’t surprised at how supportive she was of her brother. The first thing Magnus had learnt about Isabelle was that she loved her family and friends unconditionally and supported and protected them fiercely.

“We should invite the Captain and Lieutenant to the briefing this morning,” Alec said to Magnus, who nodded in agreement.

By the time Alec returned to the conference room, with both men in tow, the rest of their team had arrived.

Alec started the briefing, explaining where they were at the moment in their investigation and going over the results concerning the murder weapon.

Magnus took over and gave the group the basics of their chat with Professor Nottingham.

What surprised both men was the recognition on their superior’s faces as they explained about the Circle and Valentine Morgenstern.

“You’ve heard of the Circle?” Alec asked Luke.

“I have,” Luke said, his face grim.

“We both have,” Hodge explained.

“You would all be too young to remember the Circle, but they had a fairly large presence here in New York. Valentine Morgenstern was an NYPD detective. We worked with him, hell we were partners,” Luke admitted.

“The NYPD back then was full of corruption,” Hodge explained. “So many of us on the force were beginning to become disillusioned with it all.”

“Valentine was confident, charismatic man, and when he talked, he made a lot of sense. He wanted us to fight for change, and at first, a lot of us were behind him,” Luke said. “Even your parents Alec.”

Alec looked at Luke in surprise.

“But then Valentine started to change, and we realised that something was very wrong with his vision when things started to turn violent. He fled to Europe, and we heard he was killed a few years later.”

“We’d like to reach out to Interpol and get everything we can on the Circle,” Magnus explained.

“Leave that to me,” Luke said. “I have a friend I can contact. It will help to cut through some of the red tape. Hodge will be able to get you everything about the Circle during their time in New York.”

Hodge nodded his head in agreement.

After Luke and Hodge left the conference room, Magnus and Alec handed out assignments. They sent Raphael and Lydia back out to canvas The Sanctuary’s neighbours, while Izzy and Simon worked back at the Precinct. The phone records had finally come in, and two sets of eyes were better than one.

Alec and Magnus were sitting side by side in the Conference room, going over their notes and the case and catching up on emails when Alec’s phone started to ring.

“Detective Lightwood,” Alec said, answering his phone.

“Detective, it’s Dr Blackthorn,” The ME said. “I’ve got a body here that fits the description of one of your BOLO’s.”

“Which one?” Alec asked.

“Honestly, I’m not sure,” The ME said. “The John Doe was found floating in the East River.”

“We’re on our way,” Alec said, hanging.

Alec turned to Magnus, “We may have gotten another break,” He said excitedly. “The ME thinks he might have one of our guys.”

“Really?” Magnus asked, surprised. “Which one?”

“He’s not sure. The body was found in the East River,” Alec explained.

Magnus groaned. Being a police detective in New York City meant coming across more than your fair share of dead bodies, and Magnus hated floaters the most. Not only did the water made it hell to collect any good trace evidence, but sometimes it was almost impossible to even make an ID.

Alec and Magnus made it to the ME’s office in record time and were ushered towards one of the exam rooms. Both men put on a gown, gloves and eye protection before making their way into the room.

The ME was inside, starting on his external examination of John Doe. When he noticed the detectives, he paused his recording of notes.

“That was quick,” he said, smiling at the men.

“This could be a big break for us,” Alec explained.

“Any chance you’ve been able to make an ID?” Magnus asked.

“Sadly no,” The ME said, pointing to the body. “As you can see, the body isn’t in great shape.”

“What can you tell us?” Alec asked.

“John Doe is male, late 20’s, early 30’s. Approximately 6’1”, blonde hair,” The ME said, rattling off his list of primary findings. “I can’t give you eye colour.”

Alec stepped forward and noticed that the man’s eyes were missing.

“Post or premortem?” He asked.

“Definitely Post, scavengers,” The ME explained.

“The body shows signs of falling from a great height into the water,” The ME explained. “All other signs of trauma on the body seem to be scavenger or river-related. My best estimate at the moment is that the time of death was either late Monday evening or early Tuesday morning. The body’s been in the water for at least a week.”

“Is he a natural blonde?” Magnus asked.

“Honestly, I can’t tell. I’ve taken samples to be sent to the lab. They’d be able to confirm.”

“I think there is a good chance this is Verlac,” Alec said, giving the body another once over.

“The lab will have to confirm,” The ME said. “I’m sending them blood samples for toxicology and DNA comparison.”

“Thanks, Doc,” Alec said, scribbling down some notes.

“I’m about to open his up,” The ME said, giving the detectives fair warning.

“That’s our cue to leave,” Magnus said happily.

“I’ll have a full report to you as soon as I’m done.”

“Thank you, Dr Blackthorn,” They said, making a hasty retreat.

Alec and Magnus made their way back to the car in silence. If the John Doe was Verlac, he’d been dead since the night of or the morning after the murders.

“It’s looking more and more like Verlac is another victim,” Magnus said, slipping into the driver’s seat.

“Looks like it,” Alec said, the case rolling around in his head.

By the time they returned to the precinct, Hodge was waiting for them with four archive boxes of files and documents.

“What’s all this?” Magnus asked.

“Everything the department has on the Circle, during their time in New York,” He explained.

“Why aren’t these files computerised?” Simon asked, trying not to sneeze.

“They aren’t that old,” Magnus added, agreeing with Simon.

“If they could, the higher-ups would sweep the entire period under the rug,” Hodge said. “Tread lightly. There are still some old wounds that haven’t healed within the department. Valentine left us broken, and more than a few of us would prefer that the events aren’t dredged up.”

“We need to know how the Circle started,” Alec stated. “We need to know who Valentine’s followers were.”

“You’ll find a lot of familiar names in those files,” Hodge explained. “Honestly though, all that stuff with the runes etc., that’s news to us. The Circle had nothing like that here. It must have come later.”

“We still need to check,” Magnus said.

“We know,” Hodge said. “Which is why we’ve given you access but be careful.”

“Let me guess,” Simon said once Hodge had left the room. “You want me to go through all this.”

“Four boxes, four of us,” Alec said, picking up the top box.

“Sounds fair to me,” Magnus said, taking the next box in the stack.

“I’m going to need more coffee,” Izzy laughed.

“And I need an antihistamine,” Simon laughed, but they all got down to work.

It was late afternoon by the time Lydia and Raphael returned, and the rest of the group had had enough of reading through the old files Hodge had given them.

“Quick team meeting, and then I think we can call it a day,” Magnus said, knowing that most of the team had been in early that morning.

Lydia and Raphael hadn’t been able to find anything new from the neighbours around the Sanctuary. They all told the same story, the residents kept to themselves, they all seemed nice, and no one remembers Seb2 or seeing anyone suspicious.

Simon and Izzy had gone through Verlac’s phone records. Over the last 3 months, there were numerous calls and texts each day, all to and from the same number. Unfortunately, the number belonged to a burner phone, and there had been no sign of it on the cell network since Monday evening. Simon was still trying to track down when and where the phone was purchased.

Magnus and Alec explained what they’d found out at the ME’s office.

“We will need to wait for the DNA results to confirm, but we think the body is Verlac,” Magnus explained.

“He’s been in the water since at least Tuesday morning,” Alec added.

As they packed up for the day, Alec made his way to his desk. He had to admit to himself that he was slightly disappointed to find his keyboard bare. Not that he really expected a note. The ball was in his court.

Alec sat on his couch, staring at the blank notepad in his lap. For the last hour, he’d been trying to write a reply to his secret admirer.

‘Dear Secret Admirer’ Alec wrote, only to tear the page out of his notepad and screw it up, tossing it onto the floor like the half dozen other letters he’d started. He had no idea why he was having such a hard time responding to the letter he’d received.

Picking up the shoebox next to him, Alec opened it up and pulled out the small pile of notes. He read through them slowly, one by one, before opening the letter he’d received and re-reading it for what felt like the hundredth time.

This time when he picked up his notepad, the words just seemed to flow. ‘Dear Friend,’ Alec wrote. Alec found his rhythm over the next 30 minutes, and soon he had a completed letter that he carefully folded up and placed into the purple envelope he’d been supplied with. He slipped the envelope into his laptop bag and called it a night.

Tuesday morning, Alec was in the precinct just before 5 am. The Precinct was quiet, and the breakroom was empty, so he made his way inside and slipped the letter out of his pocket. He stood staring into space for a moment, debating with himself, before quickly placing it in the spot suggested in the letter and rushing out of the room before he lost his nerve.

Alec sat at his desk for a few moments, enjoying his new chair, his eyes trained on the breakroom. He watched patrolmen, detectives, and other support staff go in and out of the room and not a one looked up or lingered in the spot where he’d placed the letter.

“No gym today?” A voice said, snapping Alec out of his thoughts. He swung around in his chair to find an immaculately dressed Magnus smiling at him. Alec felt his heart flutter. It wasn’t fair that this man could look this good at 6 am in the morning.

“Honestly, I just don’t have the motivation today,” Alec said honestly.

Magnus chuckled, “I feel like that almost every morning,” he said, beaming at Alec.

They stayed there for a moment, neither man saying a word until Magnus broke the silence with a smile.

“Want to get out of here and grab breakfast?” he asked, his face hopeful.

“Absolutely,” Alec smiled back at him, his insides doing a little happy dance at the thought of spending time with Magnus away from work.

Letter forgotten, Alec followed Magnus into their conference room where they deposited their things, and then they made their way out of the precinct. Usually, they would have just gone to the Coffee shop on the corner, but they had plenty of time before they officially started their day, so instead, they walked a few blocks away to a small boutique coffee house.

“This is a perfect start to my day,” Magnus said, sipping his coffee as he watched Alec take a bite of his second chocolate croissant.

“I’m making a pig of myself,” Alec chuckled. “But these are amazing.”

“It’s perfectly Ok to indulge from time to time, Alec,” Magnus purred. “I doubt a little chocolate would ruin all the hard work you put in at the gym.” Magnus couldn’t help giving Alec an appreciative once over, and Alec blushed under Magnus’ gaze.

Alec was lost for words at Magnus’ flirty compliment. The butterflies in his stomach made it almost impossible to come up with a reply, and he could feel a blush spreading over his cheeks.

Magnus couldn’t help himself this morning. He’d spent the night thinking about Alec, and here away from work, his flirty nature just seemed to take over. Alec’s cheeks were covered in the most beautiful blush, and all he could think about was Alec under him and how much more of his beautiful skin that blush covered.

Alec shifted beside him, and Magnus realised he’d been staring at the man, and he looked a little uncomfortable. Pulling himself back, Magnus launched into a story about his cat, and soon, the awkwardness was gone, and they were both laughing together.

“And where have you two been?” Izzy said sternly, trying hard to keep the smirk off her face. It was just after 8, and the rest of the team were in the conference room waiting.

Alec glared at his sister, ignoring her and started to set up his laptop.

“Wouldn’t you love to know,” Magnus teased and started setting up himself.

Ten minutes later, they were all going their separate ways, following up on emails and tasks. Their investigation was stalled as they waited on lab results.

Alec spent most of his day going through his emails, finishing up reports on other cases and then going over everything they’d collected on their case, making notes. He hated the waiting, and he hated that they were stuck. If the lab didn’t come back with something soon, he was worried that their case would stall permanently.

It was a little after 2 pm when Alec remembered about the letter. It had completely slipped his mind as he’d thrown himself into this work. He made his way into the breakroom, ensuring the coast was clear before checking if it was still there. To his surprise, it was gone, and Alec felt his nerves bubbling up. What if someone else found it? He hadn’t signed his name to the letter, so no one would know he’d written it unless they knew his handwriting, not that they hand wrote much these days.

Magnus walked into the conference room, expecting to see Alec at his computer. Just after lunch, Magnus had gone upstairs to his office to check on his team, and he’d gotten sidetracked with other casework.

Looking around, Magnus spied Alec standing in the breakroom, and by the look on Alec’s face, he’s just realised that his letter was gone. Magnus had checked for the letter just after they’d had their meeting that morning. Alec had been going over some other cases with Lydia, and it had been the perfect time to check. Magnus had been thrilled at first to find the note, but then he’d been overcome with jealousy. He couldn’t help but laugh at himself, Alec had responded to his letter, and he was jealous of himself.

It had taken all of Magnus’ willpower not to open the letter at the precinct. He could have risked opening it in his office, but he decided to wait until he was home. The letter was currently in his laptop bag, tucked between some case files.

Magnus watched as Alec turned, and he quickly took his seat and opened his emails. Thankfully there was an email from the lab, and he opened it, hoping it was good news.

“We’ve finally gotten some results from the lab,” Magnus said excitedly as Alec made his way back into the conference room.

Alec took his seat and listened as Magnus read through the results.

“All the victims have temazepam in their systems,” Magnus said.

“Isn’t that used for insomnia?” Alec asked.

“According to this, it’s a benzodiazepine, and it works by slowing brain activity to allow sleep,” Magnus read. “It was also found in the curry leftovers in the fridge.”

Alec scribbled in his notebook. “Is it a prescription drug?”

“Definitely,” Magnus said, reading on. “The tox results also showed that all our victims had succinylcholine in their systems.”

“A paralytic?” Alec asked, not looking up from his notes.

“According to this report, it paralyses all the muscles of the body, including those used for breathing.”

“So he sedated them and then paralysed them?” Alec said, not able to keep the disdain from his voice.

“The temazepam would have taken about an hour to take effect, slowing them down and then the succinylcholine was injected and works within seconds. The Sux is short-acting and breaks down in the body, but the lab tested for the breakdown products, metabolites and found them.”

“We need to go back to St Mary’s,” Alec said.

“Now we know why he took a job there,” Magnus said, frowning.

It was almost 4 pm when Alec and Magnus got to St Mary’s, but thankfully Mrs Collins hadn’t left for the day.

“Good afternoon, Detectives,” She said as she approached them at the help desk. “Any news on Mr Verlac?”

“Sorry, no,” Alec said.

“We know you’re almost finished for the day,” Magnus said, “But we have some further questions for you.”

“Let’s go talk in my office,” She said, turning and leading the way.

“So, what can I help you with?”

“Would it have been possible for Mr Verlac to have access to drugs kept in the hospital?”

“What do you mean?” Mrs Collins said, a little shocked by the question.

“In particular, we’re asking about the drugs temazepam and succinylcholine,” Alec explained.

“We have strict controls in place when it comes to our pharmaceuticals,” She explained. “But as a nurses’ assistant, he could have accessed those drugs, yes.”

Margaret turned to her computer and typed away for a moment. “Stock levels are checked daily, and the reports do not show any discrepancies but let’s go talk to Amanda, the nurse in charge of his ward.”

They made their ward, and as soon as Margaret asked the question, Alec and Magnus knew there was a problem.

A week after Seb2 had started, there had been an incident. A patient had gotten into the pharmacy area and had proceeded to ransack the place. They still had no idea how the patient had gotten into the room as it was always locked. They had had to send some of the drugs off to be destroyed as their packaging had been damaged. It was hospital policy.

“Can we get a list of all the drugs that were sent to be destroyed?” Magnus asked.

“Of course,” Amanda said, picked up the phone at the nurses’ station and calling the pharmacy.

“Where are the drugs destroyed?” Alec asked.

“Off-site,” Margaret explained. “We use a medical waste company.”

“Can we get their details too, please,” Alec said, making notes.

The drugs they were looking for were on the list. All the damaged drugs were supposedly placed in containers for destruction and sealed. It took a quick phone call to confirm what Magnus and Alec suspected. The containers were incinerated without the contents being checked beforehand.

“Was Sebastian working the day of the incident?” Alec asked Amanda Dean, the nurse in charge of the ward.

“He was, in fact, he helped with the clean-up,” She explained.

“Could he have removed the drugs? Not placed them into the containers for destruction?” Alec asked.

Amanda looked at them, turning a little pale.

“Yes, he could have,” She admitted. “He wasn’t supervised. He was trusted to put all the drugs into the containers.”

As Magnus drove back to the precinct, Alec talked to the ME and then one of the lab techs.

“Even if Seb2 only took half of the temazepam and succinylcholine that was sent to be destroyed,” Alec said, hanging up the phone. “He would still have enough to sedate and paralyse at least two dozens of people.”

“Christ,” Magnus said angrily.

“Against my better judgement, I secretly hoped this would be a once-off,” Alec said. “He’s just beginning.”

“I know, that’s what I’m afraid of,” Magnus said, shaking his head.

Alec and Magnus’ first stop was their Captain’s office, where they filled him in on what they’d found out at the hospital before calling all their team to the conference room.

“So this guy could be out there, planning as we speak,” Lydia growled.

“I’m afraid so,” Magnus said.

“This guy is too good. He had everything planned and calculated. This can’t be his first time,” Raphael said, annoyed. “We need to expand our database search parameters. We need to find something.”

“We have more parameters now,” Simon said. “I’ll update our searches.”

“Leave if for the morning, Raphael, you work with Simon on that,” Magnus said.

“Isabelle, I’d like you to go over all the trace evidence again, talk to the lab, see if we’ve missed anything,” Magnus added.

Magnus turned to Alec, seeing if he had anything else to add.

“I’ll work with Izzy,” Lydia said, looking up from her notes. “Two sets of eyes are better than one.”

“Perfect, Lydia,” Alec said. “I guess that leaves us to go over all of these,” Alec said, pointing to their notes and the remaining documents on the Circle.

“We should talk to Martin again too,” Magnus said.

Alec nodded in agreement before dismissing the group and them all going their separate ways.

Magnus took in the man beneath him, like this, lost in passion. There was no doubt in his mind that his man was the most beautiful creature to ever grace the earth.

Mine, Magnus thought as he leant forward, capturing the man’s lips. Magnus’ hard thrusts causing him to writhe under him, his moans music to Magnus’ ears, as he brought him closer and closer to the edge. Magnus shifted, putting his weight on his arms as he changed the angle just slightly, thrusting harder and deeper, both men losing the ability to catch their breath at how incredible it felt.

“Magnus,” The man moaned, his hands moving up Magnus’ body wrapping around him, nailing, biting into the skin at the nape of his neck as he pulling him into a filthy kiss. His tongue darting in and out of Magnus’ lips, teasing, matching the rhythm of Magnus’ trusts into his body. Oh, and what a body, hard and toned in all the right places, the man has the body of a god come to life, and Magnus couldn’t help the way his heart swelled with joy that he’d chosen him.

“I love you,” the man moaned, shuddering under him, his body squeezing around Magnus as he came, the warmth of his cum spreading between them. Magnus felt his own body tighten. He thrust hard into him one last time as he came harder than he’d ever come in his life.

“I love you too, Alexander,” Magnus said, taking his lips in a passionate kiss.

Magnus woke with a start, his body covered in sweat and his cock rock hard.

“Holy shit,” He mumbled to himself as he shifted in his seat. After getting home that evening, an exhausted Magnus has fed Chairman, made himself a drink and made his way out onto his balcony. He’d fallen asleep, and for the first time that he could recall in his life, he’d had the most vivid sex dream starring none other than Alec Lightwood.

“God,” Magnus said, running a hand over his face. It had felt so real. He could almost still taste him on his lips. If being inside Alec felt half as good as it had in his dreams, he wasn’t sure he’d survive the man, but what a way to go.

Magnus felt a chill on his cooling skin and decided to shower and try to get some sleep in his actual bed. It wasn’t until he walked back into his apartment that he remembers the letter. How in the world could he have forgotten!

He rushed to his study where he’d dumped his laptop bag and retrieved the letter, taking it with him into his bedroom. Nervously he opened the envelope and pulled out the letter inside.

Magnus had glanced at Alec’s notes before, and they’d been messy, but this letter was anything but, it was neat, and the handwriting was beautiful and flowing.

_Dear Friend,_

_I have no idea where to begin or what to even call you, but I guess I should start at the beginning._

_When I received your initial note, I did think it was a joke. A prank being orchestrated by one of my colleagues or my brother. My first instinct was the toss the note into the trash, which is precisely what I did, only to find myself fishing it out and sliding it into my drawer for safekeeping. I’m still not quite sure why._

_I would be lying if I said I didn’t enjoy reading your notes. Each and everyone one of them has brought a smile to my face._

_Your letter, despite answering some of my questions, has also left me with so many more._

_I’m not sure if I entirely agree with your description of me. There are dozens of men and women in the precinct that are just as committed, if not more so, to their jobs. But I am very flattered by your observations, and they lead me to think that you work close or at least in the same area as I do._

_I need to be honest with you, my job rules my life. It takes all my time and is one of my highest priorities. Being a detective isn’t a 9 to 5 job, which is why I don’t date and haven’t done so in longer than I’d care to admit. Most civilians don’t understand the commitment to the job, the long hours, having to change plans at the drop of a hat, but since you work at the precinct, maybe that’s something you would understand._

_I think I would like to get to know you too, but I’m not too sure where we go from here. Do we exchange notes, letters? Or do you finally tell me who you are so we can meet face to face? I guess I will leave that decision up to you for now, not that I have much choice._

_The ball is in your court._

_A Friend._

Magnus read the letter over and over, his heart racing. Alec wanted to get to know him. It was more than he’d hoped for, to be honest, because he knew that the notes and the letter were all a little creepy. Now he had a decision to make, did he tell Alec, come clean and hope not to destroy the friendship that he’d built with Alec over the last week or two or did he continue to send Alec notes and letters and get to know him that way too.

Magnus stripped off his clothes as he made his way into the bathroom to take his shower. He should just tell Alec, he thought to himself. Come clean about his feeling and hope for the best. It was the best course of action, but he couldn’t shake the fear that it could ruin everything, and he couldn’t bear the thought of losing Alec.

Exchanging notes would be tricky. They worked in a police station, after all, and eventually, someone would notice something. Magnus heard his phone ping in his bedroom, and that’s when the idea hit him. Magnus rushed through his shower, ignoring his hard cock, then jumped into bed with his phone, opened up a web browser, and started his search.

Wednesday morning was fairly uneventful. The team went about the tasks they’d assigned themselves the day before and then split up, going their separate ways in the afternoon. They didn’t have the luxury of only juggling one case, so there was other work that needed to be done.

Alec and Lydia went out chasing a lead on one of their other cases, while Magnus and Raphael spent the afternoon finishing off reports.

“You seem distracted,” Raphael said, catching Magnus looking out the window for what felt the hundredth time.

“You know how much I love writing reports,” Magnus said, rolling his eyes.

“It’s more than that,” Raphael said matter of factly.

“OK, I am a little distracted,” Magnus admitted.

“Missing your new partner?” Raphael said, smirking slightly.

Magnus looked at his friend, they’d known each other for a long time, and they knew each other too well, so he didn’t bother to deny it.

“Maybe, just a little.”

Magnus could tell that Raphael wanted to say something, but he seemed to be struggling to find the words.

“You can ask,” Magnus said.

“Is there something more there?” Raphael asked. He’d seen the way the two men looked at each other when they thought no one else was looking.

“No,” Magnus said honestly.

“But you want there to be?” He asked.

“Yes,” Magnus said, knowing he couldn’t lie to Raphael.

“So what’s stopping you,” Raphael asked. It wasn’t like Magnus to not go after something or someone he wanted.

“He’s different,” Magnus explained. “Special, I don’t think I’ve ever quite felt like this before.”

Raphael’s usually stoic expression changed, a smile growing on his face.

“I never thought I’d see the day,” He said. “Is the great Magnus Bane falling in love?”

Magnus looked at Raphael in shock, he wasn’t falling in love, yes he couldn’t stop thinking about Alec, he found himself wanted to spend every moment he could with the man, but it wasn’t love, it was attraction, lust, it was too soon to be anything more, wasn’t it?

“It’s . . . .” Magnus started to say, but not sure what he wanted to convey. “I don’t know what this is.”

“You’ll figure it out,” Raphael said. “I like this one, so don’t fuck it up.”

Magnus laughed, knowing that it was Raphael’s way of telling him he had his back and supported him.

“So,” Lydia said as they got into the car. “It’s been a while.”

Alec looked at her, confused.

“Since we’ve been out together,” She said, amused.

“It’s been like a week,” Alec chuckled.

“It’s been a damn long week,” Lydia said, turning her attention to the road.

Alec sat for a moment and suddenly wondered if Lydia was upset that he’d been working so closely with Magnus. Alec had no idea when it came to women, so being gay was probably a godsend for him.

“Are you upset with me?” he asked.

Lydia chuckled. “No, I’m not upset with you,” She said. “I was just teasing, honestly Lightwood, sometimes you’re just too easy.”

Alec watched for a moment, “Good.”

“I actually enjoyed working with Raphael,” Lydia said. “He really knows his stuff. What’s it like working with Magnus?”

Alec felt his cheeks heat up at the mention of his name, and he was glad that Lydia’s attention was focused on the road.

“Honestly, he’s amazing,” Alec said. “He doesn’t miss a thing. Bringing him into the precinct was probably one of the best moves Luke has ever made.”

“Even better than hiring me?” Lydia teased.

“Maybe not that good,” Alec chuckled.

As they pulled up at their suspects last known residence, Lydia turned to Alec.

“Is there anything going on there that I should know about?”

Alec blinked at his partner, not entirely understanding her at first.

“What . . .?” he started to ask before he realised what she meant. “No, it’s purely professional.”

“Are you sure about that?”

“We’re building a friendship, yes, but it’s nothing more than that?”

“Any why is that?” She asked seriously. “You’re not interested?”

Alec was a little taken aback by her bluntness. Lydia wasn’t usually so forward when it came to Alec’s personal life.

Alec took a breath, trying to choose his words carefully. “We have to work together. I don’t want to risk that.”

“Alec,” Lydia said, her expression softening because she knew Alec, he never put himself or his needs first. “You’re both intelligent, consenting adults. If you wanted more, you could work around the job, and you know it.”

Alec thought for a moment, his insecurities getting the best of him, “But what if he’s not . . .”

“Interested?” Lydia said, finishing his sentence. “Trust me, a man doesn’t look at someone the way Magnus looks at you if he’s not interested.”

Later that afternoon, Magnus made his way downstairs to find that Lydia and Alec were still out. He lingered for a few moments in the breakroom before making his way towards Alec’s desk. He eyed the nanny cam suspiciously but noticed the little light wasn’t on.

Sliding the envelope out of his pocket, he looked around before sliding it onto Alec’s keyboard. Magnus felt his nerves resurface. He hoped he was doing the right thing, and it wasn’t going to all blow up in his face.

It was late by the time Alec and Lydia made it back to the precinct. They had spent the afternoon trying to find their suspect. The man was their prime suspect in 3 liquor store robberies. He’s beaten the cashier at the last store he robbed into unconsciousness, almost killing the man. Sadly all their leads had led to nothing.

Alec spotted the envelope on his desk the moment he stepped into the squad room. He felt his heart skip a beat at the sight of it. Then he remembers that Lydia was standing right beside him, and she would surely notice a purple envelope on his keyboard.

Alec felt himself panic for a moment until he realised that Lydia wasn’t making her way to her desk, which backed on to his. She had turned and was walking off towards the bathrooms. Rushing forward, Alec looked around to ensure no one was watching and slipped the envelope into his drawer.

He really wanted to rip it open and read what was inside, but he knew that Lydia would be back any moment. It had been hard enough talking to Lydia about Magnus earlier. There was no way Alec was explaining he’d been receiving notes from a secret admirer to her.

Alec logged into his email, scanning his message but not really reading anything, his mind on the envelope, his thoughts racing as to what it could contain.

“It’s almost 8, let’s call it,” Lydia said as she sat at her desk, snapping Alec out of his thoughts.

“Sounds good,” Alec smiled at his partner.

Alec sat on his couch, staring down at the envelope on his coffee table. He’d been home for almost an hour, and he still hadn’t worked up the courage to open it.

He was dying to know what was inside, but he was also dreading it. So many what-ifs raced through his head? What if his admirer was someone he disliked, what if he had decided he wasn’t interested in Alec after all, what if it really was all a joke.

Groaning, Alec picked up the envelope and pulled out the sheet of paper inside. Alec had expected a letter, but it was only a note, a very confusing one at that.

_Telegram_

_Username: W@rlock_

Alec read over the words again, not sure what to make of it. What in the world was Telegram? Alec walked into the kitchen, retrieving his phone and opened a browser. He typed in Telegram. Google’s first result was for an app, a messenger app.

Alec typed ‘Telegram’ into the search bar of the Play Store and downloaded it. It took Alec considerably longer to set up his profile, ensuring it was private, and then he ummed and ahhed over a username until finally deciding on Archer. Of course, it wasn’t available, and Alec ended up with Archer99.

He took a few more minutes to learn the app's ins and outs before searching for Warlock.

Alec hesitated for a moment before sending a simple message.

_‘Hi, this is Alec.’_

Magnus was in his kitchen, cleaning up after dinner, when he heard his phone squeak. Excitedly he rushed into the lounge where the phone was sitting on his coffee table and scooped it up. He’d set this tone as his notification for Telegraph.

Magnus noticed he had one new message from Archer99 and opened it quickly. The message was simple, but it made the butterflies in his tummy flutter. He wasn’t sure when he had sent the note that Alec would want to communicate with him this way.

_‘Good evening, Detective.’_

Magnus sent his reply and waited.

 _‘How is your evening treating you?’_ Alec sent.

 _‘It was a little boring, but things are looking up’,_ Magnus sent, not able to help himself from flirting with the man.

Alec read the man’s message and couldn’t help but blush a little.

 _‘How is your evening?’_ Magnus added.

_‘It’s been OK. It was a long day at work.’_

Magnus knew there would be some initial awkwardness, so he decided to lay it all out for Alec.

 _‘I thought long and hard about revealing myself to you,’_ He wrote. _‘But honestly, I am not ready yet. Leaving messages around the precinct didn’t seem like a very good course of action, so I found this app.’_

Alec read the message on the screen. The man was right, leaving notes around the precinct wouldn’t have worked long term.

 _‘Let’s give this a try and see how we go.’_ Alec sent, trying to sound upbeat.

Magnus sent Alec a series of smiley faces, and after that, the conversation started to flow. They completely skipped over the topic of work and instead talked about their favourite foods before moving on to their favourite restaurants.

Magnus tried very hard not to give too much away, but he also didn’t want to hold back and tell Alec half-truths because that wasn’t fair to the man. Before they knew it, it was almost midnight, and they were saying their goodbyes.

Thursday morning, Alec was already in the gym when Magnus arrived whistling.

“Someone’s in a good mood,” Alec said, smiling at the man.

“I really am,” Magnus said. Despite having only gotten 5 hours of sleep, he felt amazing, and the reason, of course, was the man standing in front of him. “I have a feeling today is going to be a good day.”

“From your lips to the angel’s ears,” Alec said, smiling.

Alec and Magnus went to grab coffees for the team after working out, stopping off to check on Sue and Derek, buying the couple breakfast, coffees, and a couple of sandwiches for later.

When they arrived back at the precinct, they found an excited Simon literally bouncing in his chair, Raphael frowning as he tried to read over his shoulder.

“Will you sit still? What are you, five?” Raphael growled.

“This is big. I can’t help it,” Simon said, almost launching himself out of his chair and knocking Raphael over in the process when he saw Magnus and Alec.

“We got a hit,” He said excitedly and started babbling away. “6 hits, actually.”

“Whoah there, Simon, slow down,” Magnus said, amused.

“We expanded the parameters of our search, and we got 6 hits back from the Crime database. 6 Murders, all in California, 3 to 4 years ago,” Simon explained.

“The murders haven’t been linked until now,” Raphael explained.

Alec and Magnus read over some of the details on the screen and then made their way to their Captain’s office reports in hand.

“Sounds like a solid lead,” Luke said, reading over the print outs Simon had prepared. “I want the two of you off to LA immediately.”

“We were going to send Detective Santiago and Officer Lewis,” Alec explained. They’d found the lead, and he thought they’d want to follow it up.

“This case is too high profile. I want my lead investigators on it, especially when it comes to liaising with other jurisdictions,” Their Captain explained. “I’ll get Jace to organise your flights and accommodation.”

“Yes, Sir,” Magnus said excitedly.

Alec smiled at how excited Magnus seemed. “You must really love LA.”

“Not in the slightest, but this trip might give me the chance to catch up with my mum,” Magnus explained.

Alec smiled at the man. Of course, he’d want to see his mother. She sounded incredible. Alec thought of his father, who was also in LA. It honestly wouldn’t have even occurred to him to try to organise to meet up with him. He was struck for a moment. He honestly was a little jealous of Magnus for having such a great relationship with his parents.

“So who’s going to tell Simon he’s not going to LA?” Alec asked.

Magnus chuckled, “I’ll do it. I’m used to his kicked puppy face.”

When they entered the conference room, Simon was excitedly telling Lydia and Izzy what they’d found.

“What did the Captain say?” Simon asked.

“Sorry Simon, The Captain wants Detective Lightwood and myself to head out to LA,” Magnus explained.

“Thank god,” Raphael said, looking up from his computer. “I don’t think I could survive 6 hours on a plane with Simon.”

“Hey,” Simon said, a little offended.

“Well, you never stop talking,” Izzy laughed.

“I thought you said you found that charming?” Simon asked, a little dejected.

“I do, but not everyone does,” Izzy said sweetly.

“Let’s not fight kids,” Lydia said. “It not like they’re going on vacation.”

“Jace is making plans for us as we speak,” Magnus said. “We’ll end up in cattle class on a redeye and in the crappiest hotel he can find, no doubt.”

They all laughed because it was probably right.

The 6 murders they had found had been spread across 3 different jurisdictions, which is why they’d never been linked until now. After getting their confirmed flight details, Alec and Magnus contacted the lead detectives in each of the cases and made appointments to talk to them.

“It’s almost 1 pm,” Magnus said, looking at his phone. “We’d better go home and pack.”

“Our flight isn’t until 7 pm,” Alec said, looking at Magnus confused.

“True, but we’ll need to be at the airport by 5,” Magnus explained.

“Even if it takes an hour to get there, that’s still 3 hours,” Alec said.

Magnus couldn’t help but chuckle at the confusion on Alec’s face.

“Not everyone just stuffs the cleanest clothes they can find into a duffle bag Alec,” Izzy said, deciding to add her two cents.

“I don’t have a duffle,” Alec protested. Magnus couldn’t help but laugh as he watched the siblings squabble.

“I’ve organised a car to the airport,” Magnus said. “We’ll swing by and pick you up at 4.”

“Great,” Alec said, ignoring his sister.

Alec had been so busy all day that he’d almost forgotten about Warlock. Sitting down on his couch, he pulled out his phone and decided to send him a quick message.

_‘Hi Warlock, hope you’ve had a good day. I just wanted to let you know that I’ll be out of town for a few days for a case, so I may not have time to message.’_

Almost immediately, Alec got a reply.

_‘I did hear you are off to LA following a lead, good luck, Detective. Safe travels, :-*’_

Alec could feel his cheeks warm when he saw the little kissy face. Alec considered sending a kiss as well but then thought better of it and sent a smiley face instead

_‘Thank you :-)’_

A few minutes before 4, Alec received a text message from Magnus. He was waiting downstairs in the car. It only took Alec a few moments to lock up and make his way downstairs. He couldn’t help but burst into laughter when he saw Magnus leaning up against the side of a purple limousine.

“You organised a limo to the airport?” Alec laughed.

“The owner is a friend of mine who owed me a few favours. We might as well travel in style, Alexander,” Magnus said, smirking at him.

Magnus took Alec’s bags and slid them into the limo before turning to hold the door open wide for Alec.

“After you, darling,” Magnus teased, and Alec couldn’t help but blush. He was just about to step inside when he noticed his neighbour Michael. He looked like he’d been out running.

“Hot date?” Michael asked, frowning at Magnus as he stopped in front of the men.

“I’m whisking Alec away to LA for a long weekend,” Magnus said, taking a step closer to Alec, wrapping an arm possessively around him before winking at Michael.

Alec was about to protest and explain it was for work, but he honestly didn’t want to ruin Magnus’ fun, and secretly, the idea of spending a weekend away with Magnus did funny things to butterflies in Alec’s tummy.

“Sounds like fun,” Michael said, but Alec could tell he didn’t mean it.

“We have a flight to catch Darling,” Magnus said sweetly to Alec.

“Bye, Michael,” Alec said, ducking into the limo and scooting over for Magnus.

Magnus slipped into the limo and closed the door before bursting into giggles.

“You’re a horrible person,” Alec laughed.

“Be honest, you have no interest in the man what so ever do you?”

“I do not,” Alec said, smiling. “I never even realised he was flirting with me until you mentioned it.”

Magnus burst into laughter again, “Well then, I’m just helping him move on by letting him think you’re taken.”

Alec blushed wildly at the idea of there being something more than just friends and colleagues between himself and Magnus.

Magnus loved the way Alec looked when he blushed. He was beyond adorable.

The limo pulled into traffic, and Alec shifted, buckling himself in. The limo was huge and roomy, but Magnus took the seat right next to Alec, their bags on the seat in front of them.

“Did you bedazzle your gun’s lockbox?” Alec asked as he noticed the box sitting beside Magnus’ bright blue suitcase.

“I may have,” Magnus laughed.

Alec leant forward and picked up the box. It had rhinestones stuck over the top. It took a moment to realise they were the colours of the Bisexual flag.

“I guess you’ll never have to worry that you’ve picked up the wrong box,” Alec giggled.

Alec’s lockbox was just plain black with a yellow strap around it to make it easier to identify.

“If you like, when we get back, I can bedazzle yours,” Magnus joked, knowing there was no way Alec would ever want that.

“Thanks, but I’ll have to pass. I would never hear the end of it from Jace and Izzy,” Alec chuckled.

Because Alec and Magnus had to check their weapons, they bypassed the self-serve kiosks and made their way to the service desk.

“How full is the flight?” Magnus asked the woman who was helping them check-in.

She smiled at Magnus before tapping away at her screen. “It’s actually only about 70 per cent capacity.”

“What are the chances of an upgrade darling,” Magnus asked sweetly, and Alec had to bite back a chuckle because the woman gushed at Magnus’ flirting. Alec walked away, leaving Magnus to work his magic.

By the time they had their tickets in hand, they had two seats in business class, express check-in passes, which allowed them to skip most of the lines at customs and tickets to the Executive Lounge.

“You are such a flirt,” Alec laughed as they took a seat in the lounge.

“I am, aren’t I,” he teased. “Though I might be slipping because she asked for your number.”

“She what?” Alec asked, surprised.

“She asked if you were single,” Magnus smirked.

“What did you tell her?”

“That you were very taken sadly,” Magnus laughed. “I have no idea why you’re so surprised. You’re a very handsome man Alexander.”

Alec didn’t know what to say to that comment, he tried hard not to blush, but he felt his cheeks heating.

“Are you hungry?” Alec asked, changing the topic.

“I am actually,” Magnus smiled at Alec.

“I’ll go grab us a plate. You grab the drinks,” Alec said.

When Alec got back to their table, with two plates piled high with goodies, Magnus had already made it back with a couple of beers and some bottles of water.

They were sitting, laughing as Alec told Magnus a story about Jace falling into a pond in Central Park after being chased by ducks when their boarding call came over the speakers.

“I am absolutely buying Jace a rubber ducky for Christmas,” Magnus joked as they scooped up their things and made their way to their boarding gate.

Soon they were seated side by side in Business class, both enjoying a glass of bubbly.

“I don’t think I’ve ever flown business before. I have to say the extra legroom is awesome,” Alec said, stretching out a little.

“Honestly, it’s the only way to fly but sadly not something I can always afford,” Magnus admitted.

“I know what you mean,” Alec chuckled. “Our jobs are never going to make us rich.”

“Very true, but we’d never want to do anything else.”

“I’ll drink to that,” Alec chuckled as they downed the last of their drinks.

About 30 minutes into their flight, Alec and Magnus were served a light supper, and then they two decided to watch one of the inflight movies together. It took a while to decide, but in the end, Magnus had won out, and they watched, Never Been Kissed.

“This is so cliché,” Alec laughed as he noticed Magnus tearing up.

“It is, it so is, but that’s part of its charm.”

After the movie, they settled in Alec sharing his ear pods as they listened to music together, soon both men were drifting off.

Alec woke up about an hour before they were to land, and he couldn’t help but spend the time watching Magnus as he slept. Of course, already knew the man was beyond beautiful, but watching as he slept made Alec’s heart flutter. He would never tire of waking up to the sight of Magnus Bane, all cuddly and soft from sleep.

Alec couldn’t stop smiling. They hadn’t once been at a loss for words, and not once had they had to fall back onto work for a topic to discuss. Alec was totally gone for this man, falling a little more every moment they spent together. 

Alec mind wandered for a moment, and then he remembers Warlock. They’d been chatting a little lately, and Alec really was beginning to like the man. Still, his feelings for Magnus far eclipsed the ones he had for Warlock, so Alec decided that as soon as he got back to NY, he’d come clean and tell Warlock that he has feeling for someone else. He needed to be honest with the man.

The first thing Magnus saw when he opened his eyes was Alec Lightwood staring at him. Every fibre of Magnus’ body wanted to pull the man down into a kiss, and Magnus was sure that at that moment, Alec wanted that too. They stared at each other for a few more moments before the lights in the cabin started to turn up, and the staff began moving around. They needed to get ready for landing.

“Did you sleep well?” Alec asked, finally finding his voice.

“Very, thank you, you?”

“Pretty good, actually,” Alec smiled widely at him.

By the time they landed, it was almost 10.30 pm LA time. They grabbed their checked luggage before making their way to the service desk to retrieve their weapons.

It was only when they were making their way over to the Car Rental area that Magnus remembered that he had forgotten to turn his phone back on. Usually, it was the first thing he did when he got off a flight, but Alec had distracted him from his usual routine.

Almost immediately, his phone started ringing, and Magnus couldn’t help but smile as he accepted a video call from his mother.

“Why are you up so late?” Magnus asked her, amused.

“My son was on a plane, flying across the country. How could I sleep,” She said, smiling widely at her son.

“Flying is one of the safest forms of transportation,” Magnus reminded her.

“I thought you said you’d call once you landed?” His mother asked.

“I just turned my phone on,” Magnus said, rolling his eyes.

“Don’t roll your eyes at me, Magnus. You know, I worry.”

“Sorry, mum,” Magnus said. “But as you can see, I’ve landed safe and sound.”

“Are you able to come to dinner tomorrow night?” She asked excitedly.

“I should be able too,” Magnus was just as excited as she was.

“Bring Raphael. It’s been too long,” She said.

“Oh, I’m not travelling with Raphael,” Magnus explained.

“You have a new partner?”

“No, Detective Lightwood and I are the primaries on the big case I’m working on at the moment.”

Magnus turned his phone to show his mother Alec, who was currently waiting patiently to the side as Magnus took his call.

“Wow, he’s a looker,” His mother said a little too loudly.

“Mum!”

“What, I might be old, but I’m not dead,” She laughed.

Alec walked over to Magnus and noticed he was on a video call.

“Let me talk to him,” Magnus’ mother demanded, and Magnus rolled his eyes walked over to Alec, holding out his phone.

“My mother would like to have a word,” Magnus said, a little embarrassed.

Alec chuckled and accepted the phone.

“Hello, Mrs Bane,” Alec said politely.

“Handsome and good manners,” She said. “Aren’t you a catch?”

Alec couldn’t help but blush.

“Detective Lightwood, was it?” Magnus’ mother asked.

“It’s Alec, Mrs Bane,” Alec said, smiling.

“Anita, please,” Anita Bane said. “Mrs Bane makes me feel old.” She laughed.

“I would love it if you could join my son and me for dinner tomorrow evening,” Anita said with a hopeful smile.

“I wouldn’t want to intrude on your time together,” Alec said honestly.

“You wouldn’t be intruding,” She explained, and Magnus smiled at Alec nodding his head to agree with his mother.

“In that case, I’d love too.”

“Wonderful, 7 pm,” She said. “I hope you like spicy.”

“Love it,” Alec beamed at her.

Alec passed the phone back to Magnus.

“I’ll see you soon, Mum,” Magnus said.

“Don’t be late,” His mum said, blowing him a kiss before hanging up.

“So that was my mother,” Magnus chuckled as they walked up to the car rental counter.

“She seems great,” Alec said.

“Honestly, she’s the best,” Magnus adored his mother.

Magnus took the lead at the car rental desk since he had all the paperwork, and soon they were walking through the carpark looking for space A27.

“There is no way Jace rents us this?” Alec said, taking in the BMW convertible parked in the spot they’d been told to find.

“He did not, he rented us a bomb, but I cancelled it and organised this,” Magnus said, smirking. “I would have gotten a Maserati, but they didn’t have any available on such short notice.”

“Maserati?” Alec asked, his pulse racing.

Magnus giggled.

“How did you know?” Alec asked because he’d always joked about getting himself a Maserati one day, ever since he was a kid, but he didn’t remember ever mentioning it to Magnus.

“Your lovely sister may have mentioned it a time or two,” Magnus laughed.

“Of course she did,” Alec groaned. “What else has Izzy told you about me?”

“Wouldn’t you like to know,” Magnus teased as he made his way to the driver’s door.

Magnus and Alec were pleasantly surprised to find that the hotel Jace had booked them into wasn’t a dump. He’d booked them a superior double room, so it came with two queen-sized beds, a spacious sitting area, a balcony and a massive bathroom with a spa bath. He had also organised late check-in, so they were able to get into their room right away.

“Honestly, I was almost expecting a backpacker hostel,” Alec laughed, taking in the room.

“Me too,” Magnus chuckled as he placed his suitcase on one of the bed. “Mind if I take the bed closest to the bathroom, he asked.

“Fine by me,” Alec said, sitting on the other bed.

It was almost midnight, 3 am New York time, so Alec and Magnus decided to head straight to sleep. They had to be at the first precinct at 10 am to meet with the first detective on their list.

Alec excused himself, grabbing a t-shirt and shorts and ducking into the bathroom. He changed quickly and found Magnus had changed while he’d been in the bathroom, into a tank top and sleep pants.

Magnus ducked into the bathroom and came out about 20 minutes later, face completely devoid of makeup. It was the first time Alec had seen him barefaced, and he wasn’t surprised that Magnus was just as beautiful, if not more so, without the makeup.

“I’ve set the alarm on my phone,” Alec said, pulling back the comforter on his bed.

“Great,” Magnus said, smiling at the man, and he got into his own bed with a sigh. “Not as comfy as my own bed but not bad.”

Alec turned on his side lamp and then turned off the room lights. He slipped into bed and turned to Magnus.

“Good Night Magnus,” he said as he turned out the light.

“Sleep well, Alexander,” Magnus said, snuggling into his bed.

It didn’t take very long for either man to drift off to sleep.

When Alec woke the next morning to the sound of his alarm, Magnus was already dressed and made up and sitting at the desk reading something on his laptop.

“Morning,” Alec said, getting out of bed and stretching.

Magnus looked up at Alec and felt the air caught in his lungs as he watched Alec’s t-shirt ride up, revealing his incredible abs.

He was lost for a moment in the beauty of Alec before snapping out of it. “And I’m back,” he joked, blushing slightly. “Good morning Alexander.”

“Did you sleep?” Alec asked.

“I did, very well, in fact,” Magnus explained. “I’ve only been up for about 30 minutes.”

“I’ll go get ready, and we can grab some breakfast downstairs before we leave if you like,” Alec said.

“Sounds wonderful,” Magnus beamed at him.

It took them about 40 minutes to get to the first Police precinct, and then they ended up having to wait to talk to the detective that caught two of the cases they thought were linked to the Sanctuary case.

Unfortunately, the detective wasn’t much help, and he couldn’t really add anything new to the reports they had been able to download. Both of the murdered men had been homeless, and by the time their bodies were found, they’d been too badly decomposed to even get an ID, let alone a clear cause of death. Both men had multiple stab wounds, and the tox screens that had been run showed a sedative in their systems.

Just after lunch, Alec and Magnus made their way to the new Precinct, the detective that had caught the case there had retired a year ago, but they were able to meet with his then partner. The third victim was also a homeless man, but they’d been able to get an ID because his prints had been in the system. He was an army vet who had fallen on hard times. His family had reported him missing, and his body had been found 4 weeks later. It had been badly decomposed, but the ME had been able to tell that the cause of death was a slit throat. There were stab wounds to the chest, and a couple of marking had been scratched into the skin, but they hadn’t been able to make them out clearly, and the photographs taken at the time weren’t much help.

By the time they got back to their hotel, both men were exhausted and a little disheartened. They had been hoping for more than this. They still had one more precinct to visit, but that wouldn’t be until tomorrow morning.

“I need a shower,” Magnus said as he dropped onto his bed.

“Me too,” Alec groaned. “Today just feels like a big waste of time.”

“I know what you mean, but every little thing brings us a step closer to this bastard,” Magnus said.

“Mind if I shower first?” Magnus asked.

“Go ahead,” Alec said. “I don’t take very long to get ready.”

“What are you insinuating, Detective?” Magnus said, smirking.

“I’m not insinuating anything,” Alec chuckled. “We both know you take way longer to get ready than I do. Not that I’m complaining because you always look amazing.”

Magnus looked at Alec with wide eyes at the compliment.

Alec suddenly realised what he’d said and blushed wildly.

“Thank you, Alexander,” Magnus said softly, also blushing, as he scooped up his things and made his way into the bathroom.

Alec fell backwards on his bed, face in his hands. Magnus Bane was going to be the death of him.

Alec was drifting off when the bathroom door finally opened and one of his fantasy walked out, coming to life right there in his hotel room.

Magnus was wearing tight black jeans. His top half was bare, showing off his incredible chest, washboard abs and the sexiest arms Alec had ever seen. Magnus’ lips were a dusky pink, his eyes perfectly lined with black, and his lids shimmered under the fluorescent lights of the room. His hair was perfect, a faux Mohawk with what looked like glittery tips.

Alec sat up, not able to tear his gaze from the man.

“Forgot my shirt,” Magnus said absently, rifling through his suitcase. It wasn’t until he looked up after finding the one he wanted did he notice that Alec’s eyes were glued to him. They were filled with want and yearning, and it made Magnus’ insides flip.

“The bathroom’s all yours,” Magnus said, not sure what else to say. Alec just blinked at him as if he hadn’t heard.

“Beautiful,” Alec thought, not realising that he’d actually said the words aloud.

It took Alec a few moments to come back to himself, and he blushed furiously, looking down at the floor when he realised he’d been openly and shamelessly checking Magnus out, and he hadn’t heard a word he’d said.

“Sorry?” Alec said, rubbing his eyes, pretending to be just waking up.

“The bathroom’s free,” Magnus said as he held Alec’s gaze as he buttoned up his shirt.

“Oh, umm, Thanks,” Alec said awkwardly. Alec grabbed the pile of clothes he had on his bed and stood, holding them in front of himself, trying and failing to hide how hard he was.

“I’ll be 15 minutes,” Alec said, rushing into the bathroom, embarrassment flooding through him.

Magnus felt the air rush out of his lungs the moment the bathroom door closed. There was absolutely no doubt in his mind that Alec wanted him. He hadn’t purposely forgotten his shirt, but he couldn’t help but be a little happy that he had. Now he just needed to work out a way to move their relationship forward, past being friends and colleagues, into more. He knew that he would have to be the one to take that first step because Alec was too cautious when it came to his personal life.

Alec turned on the shower and stepped into the cold water. “By the angel,” he muttered under his breath. Could he have been more obvious? He wouldn’t be surprised if Magnus reported him for inappropriate behaviour. He’d literally just ate the man up with his eyes, and all he’d been was shirtless.

The cold water wasn’t helping with Alec’s little problem, so he tried to turn his mind away from thoughts of Magnus and to something else. Nothing worked until he thought of his parents and how they would totally disapprove of Alec falling into a relationship with Magnus. That definitely did the trick.

Alec finished his shower and dressed quickly. He combed his hair as best he could, and by the time he entered the hotel room, Magnus was sitting on his bed, phone in hand, ready to go.

“All set?” Alec asked, making his way to where he’d left his own phone.

“Yes, we’d better get going. I’ll never hear the end of it if we’re late,” Magnus chuckled.

Alec sighed with relief, he had been worried that his behaviour would make things weird between them, but Magnus acted as if nothing had happened.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Just a few notes on this chapter and the fic in general.
> 
> We never find out Magnus' mothers name in the books or the series, and I've read multiple fics that use all sorts of names but the one that has stuck with me and I've always liked is Anita. Not sure who first used it, but I'm borrowing it. Also, Bane is Magnus' stepdad's surname which he and his mother took for the sake of this fic.
> 
> In this fic, Valentine Morgenstern is not Clary's father and she is an only child.
> 
> The messaging app Telegram is an actual app but I've never used it. I googled, anonymous messaging apps and it was the least sketchy one of the lot. It actually seems like a great app. 
> 
> I tried to find the regulations for Law enforcement taking weapons on planes in the US and honestly, it got so complicated because it seems it varies from state to state etc. So I've used the regulation for Officers in Australia. In Australia, an office of the law can only carry their weapon onboard for a very limited number of reasons, ie transporting a criminal, protecting a witness etc. All other times they may transport unloaded firearms and small amounts of ammunition in a locked, hard-sided container as checked baggage only.


End file.
